What are possible alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides without promoting the renaissance of genetic engineering? This brief study intends to provide an overview of the current state of science on possible alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides and to be understandable for non-experts.

The Covid-19 pandemic and, most recently, the war that has erupted in Ukraine have shown that such crises can have a major impact on European emissions trading. This raises the central question: Can and must the European emissions trading system become more crisis-proof? In the present project, concrete crisis scenarios are developed that could put a strain on the European emissions trading system (EU ETS). This is followed by an analysis of the possibilities that the existing laws and regulations offer for reacting to such crises. The further aim of the project is to show ways to improve the handling of crises within the trading system.

In KliMaWerk, integrated measures and strategies are developed to increase hydrological and ecological resilience for watercourses affected by climate change. Special consideration is given to low-flow and drying situations, alternating with heavy rainfall events. The ecological functions of the water bodies as well as competing water body uses are taken into account through the integrated consideration of an entire water body catchment area. What is new here is the holistic view of the landscape water balance, instead of a narrow focus on individual spatial elements or individual user groups.

The international conference on 19 and 20 October 2022, will address microplastics in soils and has two main objectives: 1. to present the current state of international research on the problem of microplastics in soils and 2. to identify the need for action on the part of policy-makers and compiling and discussing possible strategies for implementing recommendations for action at international level.

Agri-food systems in Central Eastern Europe are key to achieving the EU climate goals. To deliver these goals, strategic planning and integrated policies are needed that will enable reduced emissions, increased carbon removals, and at the same time support biodiversity and adaptation. Ambitious climate targets for the agri-food sector are needed, as well as alignment of the national strategic plans under the Common Agricultural Policy with climate targets and the European Green Deal objectives.

Germany took over the G7 Presidency from the United Kingdom at the start of 2022. Climate continues to stand on top of the G7's agenda as global emissions continue to grow. In this project Ecologic Institute, in partnership with WWF and E3G, brings together a select group of think-tanks and NGOs to discuss priorities for the German G7 presidency. Based on policy briefs by E3G and Ecologic Institute, experts in the German climate policy field discuss key issues around climate at the G7 to identify and concretise priorities and action items for the G7. Key topics include decarbonising industry, climate partnerships and their financing, climate clubs, and loss and damage.

In the forefront of the UN Food Systems Summit, Germany held the National Dialogue on "Pathways to Sustainable Food Systems" in June 2021 with more than 400 participants. This dialogue will be continued in 2022. Two of the five core topics of the dialogue dealt with a) a more plant-based diet in the future and b) the food economy of the future. The project "Summary and Outlook of the National Dialogue 2021 'Pathways to Sustainable Food Systems'" analyses the results achieved in these areas and develops conclusions for the further process on this basis.

This project supports DG RTD in developing a comprehensive Baseline for the lighthouses of the Atlantic/Arctic sea basin, Danube river basin and Mediterranean Sea basin of the Mission 'Restore our ocean and waters by 2030'. Specific activities include mapping lighthouse area relevant stakeholders, networks, governance structures and citizen engagement, as well as past, planned and ongoing projects relevant for the Mission objectives.

The EU has specified climate neutrality as a legally binding 2050 target. This transformation requires bold policy tools that can deliver concrete results – sector-by-sector. To inspire policymakers across the EU to get active, Agora Energiewende is compiling best practice examples of policies that are successful in initiating progress towards climate neutrality. Ecologic Institute contributes to this project by researching and drafting fiches for ten best practice cases. Moreover, the team is supporting Agora Energiewende in selecting suitable cases. Ecologic Institute draws on its in-house expertise in a wide range of sectors.

The European Consumer Food Waste Forum is a multi-disciplinary forum set up in October 2021 by the Joint Research Centre, which seeks to enable the EU's transition to a sustainable food system by finding solutions and developing tools that help to reduce food waste at the consumer level, including household and food services. Stephanie Wunder and 15 other practitioners and researchers will identify and develop multi-dimensional tools to curb consumer food waste, considering both the motivation of consumers as well as their ability and opportunity to change related behaviour. The tools will be multi-level addressing both the role of consumers and that of other key players engaged in food waste reduction. These will contribute to the work of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste and that of other players to help reduce consumer food waste.

Regional governments are key players in driving the transformation towards climate neutrality, as they are the ones who enable and implement solutions on the ground. For the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development, Ecologic Institute together with partners identifies EU regions that are successfully transforming their economies towards climate neutrality. Based on six case studies, the project distills key drivers, conditions and mechanisms for a successful transformation of regional economies – leading to concrete policy recommendations for the EU level on how to support in this effort.

The briefing provides a didactic overview on carbon farming. Specifically, it summarizes the current scientific understanding of the mitigation potentials, co-benefits and trade-offs of carbon farming, as well as the key agronomic practices and key knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to scale up carbon farming and to deliver robust climate mitigation and EU Green Deal objectives.

Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) described the European Green Deal as "Europe's man-on-the-moon moment". With this plan, the European Union aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, protect and enhance nature, and sustainably transform the European economy and society. But what exactly is the European Green Deal? Which role does it play in our everyday life? And what challenges does it pose? In our podcast and webinar series "Green deal – Big Deal?" we take a critical look at these questions and discuss various aspects of the European Green Deal with experts from policy, business and science.

Europe's environment is in an alarming state, with climate change expected to further aggravate the situation. This substantially threatens economic prosperity, human wellbeing and social peace. Our society and economy need systemic transformative change, and ecosystem restoration integrated into nature-based solutions lies at its heart. MERLIN (Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: Innovation, upscaling and transformation) is a 4-year Innovation Action project (funded by the EU) which aims to support transformative ecosystem restoration. The project will work in 17 flagship projects, from Finland to Israel, in order to generate a blueprint for to implement, upscale and replicate restoration and nature based solutions in freshwater ecosystems.