Donald Trump's announcement that the USA will pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement triggered the German Federal Agency for Civic Education to put American climate policy on stage in its popular series "What's Up America". Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute, Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer of PIK Potsdam and the New York Times Berlin correspondent Melissa Eddy addressed the reasoning behind this controversial decision and possible consequences.

As part of the FP7 MARS e-conference on the "Future of Water Management in Europe: Reviewing the WFD implementation", Josselin Rouillard presented an overview of key synergies and conflicts between EU policies in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). After presenting the variety of relevant EU policies, Josselin presented key results from the H2020 project Aquacross on policy integration in EU water polices and the challenges of mainstreaming water policy in sectoral policies. He then presented in more detail the outcomes of a survey of Rural Development Programmes and their contribution to supporting the objectives of the WFD.

Green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, how can they be mainstreamed in practice and to what extent do current policy frame-works support their implementation? At the international conference on "Urban Green In-frastructure - Connecting People and Nature for Sustainable Cities", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis and Sandra Naumann addressed these and other issues in targeted ses-sions. The conference, held in Malmö (Sweden) from 20 to 21 September 2017, was the final conference of the EU-funded GreenSurge project.

Despite President Trump's skepticism regarding the Paris Agreement and his focus on fossil fuels, the interest in the German Energiewende and the role of renewables remains high in transatlantic exchange. Dr. Camilla Bausch, Director of Ecologic Institute, was invited to speak at two high-level events with US policy makers.

In the wake of the German elections in 2017, the lead candidate of the Green Party, Cem Özdemir, presented his foreign policy concept. Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute and Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German Marshall Fund were invited to comment on his approach, which he framed as "value-based realism".

<p>The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the upcoming climate negotiations and global trends in the energy sector – these topics were discussed during a panel discussion on "Current Challenges in Climate and Energy Policy" at the Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

<p>More than 450 decision-makers discussed the urgent matters of our time during the "World Food Convention 2017", where the Ecologic Institute was a partner. Stephanie Wunder, Ecologic Institute's Senior Fellow joined the World Food Convention's panel on "Human Eating Behaviour" in June 2017. In her statement she pointed out that eating behavior can be changed and diets can be healthier and more environmentally friendly at the same time. However, as she underlined, we should not trust that the informed consumer will simply change the system, and that we need to make it easier for people to live healthier: provide access to good foods, get the prices right and reconnect people to the food system.</p>&#13;

<p>How can culture contribute to change? How can and should it contribute to achieving environmental sustainability? Dr. Camilla Bausch was invited to reflect on such questions in the context of the 8th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

<p>What is the importance of the Baltic Sea marine environment to society? How do human activities contribute to national and regional economies? How does the state of the marine environment contribute to the well-being of current and future generations? The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) brought together around 800 players active in the Baltic Sea region to reflect on common challenges, the EU Strategy and its objectives. Ecologic Institute's Benjamin Boteler was invited to participate as a panelist at the HELCOM session "Latest status of the sea revealed" held on 13 June 2017.</p>&#13;

<p>On 23 May 2017 a CommBeBiz webinar featured a discussion with Ecologic Institute&#39;s Holger Gerdes and Zoritza Kiresiewa, on the topic &quot;Creating Networks for the Transition to a Bio-based and Circular Economy.&quot; They gave deeper insights into recommendations for effective engagement in the bio-based and circular economy. These recommendations were published in a BioSTEP policy paper, which is available online.</p>

Ecologic Institute's Elizabeth Zelljadt provided an overview of the ways various emission trading systems (ETS) use revenues from the auctioning of allowances as part of a panel discussion on revenue recycling at the Ontario Cap-and-Trade Forum in Toronto. The event brought together government decision-makers as well as analysts and Canadian industries affected by the province's emissions trading system, which entered into force January 2017 and held its first allowance auction in March 2017.

<p>Ecologic Institute's Lena Donat provided the European perspective on the Paris Agreement and the outcomes of COP22 in Marrakesh at the 45th Cairo Climate Talks, titled "COP22: Fostering Climate Change Resilience in Egypt". The event brought together decision-makers as well as representatives from business, academia and civil society.</p>&#13;

<p>Laudato Si': To Care for our Common Home. Pope Francis' encyclical has created widespread conversation within and beyond the Catholic community. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute along with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Klaus Töpfer, Hartmut Graßl, Anton Losinger, Mary Evelyn Tucker and other prominent voices from science, policy and theology provided insights on this discussion at the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) three day international workshop on the Papal Encyclical.</p>&#13;

The 40th Cairo Climate Talks, titled "Putting Paris into Effect: Climate Change Action in Africa" brought together decision-makers as well as representatives from business, academia and civil society. Ecologic Institute's Lena Donat provided the European perspective on the outcome of the Paris climate summit and the future negotiation process.

The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) presented on 25 February 2016 a statement entitled "Environment and Free Trade: Environmentally sound design of TTIP". Following the presentation of the statement by Prof. Dr. Christian Callies, a member of the SRU, a panel discussion was held. Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow, Ecologic Institute, was one of the participants, next to Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan and Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner.