This policy brief investigates the gaps in the existing international treaties on marine plastic pollution and proposes components that need to be considered in a new treaty. These proposals will complement the G20 work on plastic pollution. Furthermore, since the G20 summit will be held in Indonesia in 2022, the focus of this policy brief will not only be relevant to G20 countries but also to Southeast Asia as the biggest contributor of marine plastics.

This briefing paper, co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Natalia Burgos Cuevas, provides an overview of how the climate change–human mobility nexus has been addressed in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted thus far by South American countries and identifies pathways towards improved management of population movements in revised NDCs. To date, a partial integration of the human mobility perspective prevails: References to the topic indicate a slow – but progressive – acknowledgment of the impacts of a changing climate in vulnerable communities, which may include human displacement. Given the urgent need to move forward from the recognition of the topic to the establishment of effective measures to tackle forced population movements associated with the impacts of climate change, the updating of NDCs – currently under way in the region – entails an opportunity to incorporate strategies aimed at enhancing the management of human mobility.

This study analysed if and how EU Member States used their auctioning revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for climate action. For this purpose, we selected eight case study countries, namely Czech, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal. As part of these case studies, we examined the reporting, the legal provisions and the political narrative around auctioning revenues through desk research and expert interviews.

The German government has put the formation of an 'ambitious, bold, and cooperative' climate club on top of its G7 Presidency agenda. But what is a climate club? And what type of climate club should the German G7 Presidency push toward? This policy brief provides some answers to these questions and formulates recommendations for the German Presidency.

The 2020s are the pivotal decade to get on the path to climate neutrality by 2050. EU climate policy needs to rise to this challenge. How must EU climate policymaking evolve to become transformative? This policy brief of the 4i-TRACTION project sets out conceptual hallmarks required for attaining climate neutrality in the EU.

Transforming and decarbonising industry is essential for reaching climate-neutrality and the goals of the Paris Agreement. How can the G7 accelerate the decarbonisation of industry? Ecologic Institute's policy brief maps out a number of opportunities and potential priorities for the German Presidency. The Recommendations are available for download.

From sector coupling to hydrogen, from the implementation of the Climate Protection Legislation to the European Green Deal: Achieving climate neutrality requires coordinated and effective policy management across individual departments. Climate policy is a cross-cutting task, because all sectors, from power generation to industry, buildings, transport and agriculture, must become greenhouse gas neutral without delay. Experts from the Ariadne Copernicus project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), have examined central problems of government control of German climate policy and presented options for solutions. The paper was also sent to negotiators of the coalition talks in the run-up to publication.

This policy brief examines current proposals for the further expansion of photovoltaics. It shows that the two central goals – accelerating the PV expansion and involving residents – are in tension with each other, at least in the short term. Based on the analysis, the following sequence of measures is proposed: First, as an immediate intervention, PV plants that feed all of their electricity generation into the grid should be made economically viable again.

Forests and the ocean are vital for climate, biological diversity, and human communities, but they are degraded and their ecosystem services are seriously impaired, mainly because financial, economic and governance structures are misconfigured. The authors of this T20 policy brief propose that G20 help strengthen the REDD+ climate instrument for forests and extend it to Blue Carbon from coastal and marine ecosystems. Scaled up to cover the Earth's two largest, most diverse and most productive ecosystems, these two approaches can deliver significant economic and climate benefits. The T20 policy brief is available for download.

Bueb, Benedict, Tröltzsch, Jenny (2021): Policy Brief: Towards Sustainable Adaptation Pathways A Concept for Integrative Actions to Achieve the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework. Dessau-Roßlau: Umweltbundesamt

In a decision published in May 2021, the German Constitutional Court held that the Federal Climate Change Act is partly unconstitutional and has to be amended by the end of 2022. This policy brief explains the court's key arguments and findings.

Meredith S., Allen B., Kollenda E., Maréchal A., Hart K., Hulot J.F., Frelih Larsen A. and Wunder S. (2021) European food and agriculture in a new paradigm: Can global challenges like climate change be addressed through a farm to fork approach? Think 2030 policy paper by the Institute for European Environmental Policy and the Ecologic Institute.

Nature-based solutions have been gaining attention as effective solutions to address important global challenges. As the world battles with the COVID-19 crisis, increased awareness on its link to the exploitation of nature is generating momentum towards improving our relationship with nature. This paper by IEEP and Ecologic Institute discusses how EU policies and investments have spurred the uptake of nature-based solutions to support biodiversity and ecosystem health, and outlines remaining gaps and opportunities on how best to scale up efforts to meet the current EU policy framework’s 2030 objectives.

This briefing note, published within the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project NATURVATION, takes a critical look at the value and limits of climate nature-based solutions to deliver on biodiversity goals. Building on research findings from NATURVATION, the brief discusses the question: How can we realise the added value of urban climate nature-based solutions for biodiversity?

Published in April 2021, this policy brief identifies four options for increased multilateral cooperation that support an international shift towards sustainable food systems and help to increase the global 2030 climate ambition at the same time. The identified initiatives focus on activities that reduce food loss and waste and support plant based diets, following a 'food systems approach.'