Those who contribute least to climate change are often the most severely affected by its impacts. Organisations like Bread for the World aim to amplify their voices and promote climate justice for vulnerable communities. Ecologic Institute is conducting an independent evaluation of Bread for the World’s Climate Policy Unit to strengthen its long-term impact and strategic focus.

How can nature conservation measures be designed to increase the resilience of ecosystems to climate change? This is the focus of a research project funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and led by the Ecologic Institute. The project aims to develop a scientifically sound and practical concept for assessing and promoting the climate resilience of ecosystems in Germany. The results are intended to provide strategic impetus for a climate-resilient approach to nature conservation.

This project supports Carbon Market Watch to address the specific challenges of integrating temporary sequestration credits into EU agri-food climate policy. In assessing the policy options currently under discussion – emissions trading systems, mandatory climate standards, and public procurement – and examines the implications of CRCF use within these frameworks. The project also provides recommendations on how temporary carbon sequestration can be supported in a way that is environmentally credible, practically feasible, and aligned with broader EU climate objectives.

Ecologic Institute, in partnership with Ramboll and I4CE, continues its collaboration with the European Environment Agency in supporting the understanding of costs of climate impacts and climate adaptation. The overall aim of this study is to extract, complement and compile quantitative information on the economic costs and socio-economic impacts of climate adaptation versus costs of inaction in EU27 Member States. The work builds on previous work conducted by the consortium for the EEA which serves as the methodological foundation for this project.

The Plastic Pirates Plus project focuses on where participation in education needs to be particularly promoted: in school classes with a higher proportion of pupils from socially disadvantaged households. The aim is to give these young people access to the world of science through a low-threshold, practical programme – regardless of their financial or social circumstances. Participation in the project is free of charge and thus deliberately designed so that no child is excluded.

This project examines whether Member States are using CAP funding to support actions that lay the foundation for reducing livestock emissions in the next funding period. This includes informing discussions on whether additional policy measures will be needed beyond CAP support, given the necessary increase in climate ambition for the agricultural sector towards meeting the EU’s 2040 climate target.

The project NormTransform seeks to quantify emission reduction potentials and the impacts of reduced meat consumption (measured in kg/CO2) in Austria, induced through advertisement campaigns.

To generate new sources of climate finance, this project assesses the design and implications of an international oil extraction levy. Unlike downstream carbon pricing policies, the levy would be applied at the point of oil extraction and based on the embedded carbon in crude oil. By internalising part of the climate costs of fossil fuels, the mechanism aligns with the polluter pays principle.

The research project analyses the need for integrated strategies in order to ensure sustainable development and preserve the basis of life. The project focuses on analysing the challenges and interactions between the three crisis areas and the question of how measures can be designed to create synergies between climate protection, biodiversity conservation and the reduction of environmental pollution. More crises are being added, e.g. land degradation and food security.

This project supports the German Environment Agency (UBA) in developing strategic options for the structural evolution of the EU ETS post-2030. Its results will feed into the European Commission's 2026 review of the ETS and inform Germany's position in upcoming negotiations on ETS reform.

The objective of thERBN is to establish an EU-wide, multi-actor thematic network to facilitate knowledge sharing on innovative solutions for a sustainable, circular bioeconomy – specifically those applicable by small farms and foresters (practitioners) at the local scale in rural areas. This framework aims to empower practitioners by bridging the gap between existing, viable circular bioeconomy solutions and the practical challenges they face in their daily operations.

The aim of this project is to prepare a report that will serve as the basis for the evaluation report on the Federal Action Plan on Nature-based Solution for Climate and Biodiversity (ANK) to be submitted by the Federal Government in 2025. In March 2023, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) published the Federal Action Plan on Nature-based Solution for Climate and Biodiversity (ANK) with the aim of significantly improving ecosystems in Germany. It specifically counteracts the dual crisis of global heating and biodiversity loss.

The Ecologic Institute is providing expert support for the transformation process for the future of Hamburg's agricultural sector – in close cooperation with the project team from urban catalyst and Prof Antje Stokman (HCU Hamburg). It is developing proposals for guidelines, goals, measures and indicators as a basis for the participatory strategy process.

This project supported the European Environment Agency (EEA) in reviewing the EU's evolving competitiveness agenda through the lens of long-term sustainability transitions. The project explored how the EU’s competitiveness discourse engages with broader sustainability concerns, particularly in relation to industry transformation, circular economy and bioeconomy. It considers potential trade-offs between competitiveness and non-climate environmental goals such as biodiversity, ecosystems, and resource use. Based on this assessment, the project identified options for how sustainability could be anchored more firmly in, and aligned with, the EU competitiveness agenda.

This project for the European Environment Agency (EEA) aims to improve both the number and quality of reported climate policies and measures (PaMs) and to increase the visibility and utilisation of the PaMs database.