A key focus of the project is extending the lifespan of everyday goods by enabling them to be passed on to new users instead of being discarded after their first use. This approach helps conserve valuable resources, reduces waste generation, and contributes to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Ecologic Institute is developing a practical guide on alternative financing options for municipal climate projects. The guide provides a structured overview of suitable financing approaches – ranging from fees and participatory models to funds and cooperative arrangements – and assesses their applicability under the specific conditions in Rhineland-Palatinate.

On behalf of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), Ecologic Institute supported the conceptual development and organisation of the European Networking Workshop on Urban Nature, held in Bonn on 5–6 May 2026. The workshop aimed to bring together key actors from across Europe to exchange experiences on promoting urban biodiversity and implementing the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.

Rome, like many cities in Southern and Western Europe, is facing significant challenges from climate change, particularly in the form of Urban Heat Islands (UHI). To address these risks, PwC is leading a project funded by the EU's DG REFORM, with the Ecologic Institute playing a key supporting role. This project will develop a detailed UHI risk profile for Rome, integrating data on the city’s demographics, urban layout, transportation systems, and green spaces.

The project objective was to analyse several datasets to gather insights on the progress of concepts of just resilience/equity within adaptation planning/policies at both national and sub-national levels in EEA countries. These insights are included in the Just Resilience report, published in 2025 by the EEA and in a separate draft briefing on just resilience at the national/sub-national level.

This project for The Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) aims to convey in an effective and accessible way that our actions today have an impact on the future, especially on nature and the livelihoods of future generations. Through carefully designed visualizations that are based on scientific research, we want to show how the climate crisis is affecting nature and the German landscape, and how climate protection and adaptation can prevent damage, mitigate the effects of the biodiversity crisis and ultimately improve our lives.

The importance of indicator frameworks in monitoring and evaluation of local adaptation action is increasingly recognized, but there is still limited knowledge shared on them. The primary goal of this project is to gather essential information on the monitoring and evaluation of adaptation strategies at the local level, providing insights into how cities measure progress on the ground.

The project "Climate Adaptation Naturally Nature-based Solutions for Municipalities" aims to communicate the potential of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in cities and municipalities in a targeted manner and to support cities and municipalities in the implementation of such solutions with the help of practice-oriented applications. The project primarily addresses climate adaptation managers in the municipalities, but also representatives from urban planning and development, green space offices and nature conservation authorities, education and culture, water and wastewater management.

Ready4NetZero aimed to support small- and medium-sized cities in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Croatia in the development and implementation of local strategies to reach climate neutrality. To do so, the project created knowledge resources (written guidance) and provided training and capacity building activities (webinars, workshops, a study visit, an international conference) to equip municipal staff with capacities, knowledge, and networks to develop and implement local long-term climate strategies.

Ecologic Institute and the University of Geisenheim will analyse the extent to which measures for strengthening biodiversity have been integrated in the application of urban development funding by German municipalities, and what good practice examples exist. Based on this research, municipalities will be informed about measures that are eligible for urban development funding which are effective in conserving or promoting biodiversity.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are recognised as cost-effective tools to alleviate pressure during high rainfall events while producing wider societal and environmental benefits, but uptake is limited in practice due to lacking evidence. The NICHES project – Nature's Integration in Cities' Hydrologies, Ecologies and Societies – aims to fill this gap by adopting a holistic social-ecological-technical systems (SETS) approach to explore the potential of urban NBS as an alternative to the costly renewal of grey wastewater systems. Five global cities – Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Sheffield, and Rotterdam – will be utilized to co-create knowledge and develop a shared understanding of restorative NBS that can be applied to avoid storm-water run-off and negative impacts for aquatic biodiversity.

The overall objective of the AMAREX project is to develop methods to enable the adaptation of stormwater management concepts to extreme events including heavy rain, heat and drought at the municipal level. In doing so, the analysis will consider the different extreme weather events in an integrative way.

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 formulation and implementation of climate adaptation plans in cities worldwide needs to speed up rapidly to keep in pace with projections of climate risks. The research project: "Resilience in Europe through Activating City Hubs reaching Out to Users with Triple-A climate adaptation Tools" (REACHOUT) aims to support the implementation of the European Green Deal by developing user-oriented climate services. It is funded through the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme. Research partners, climate service providers and city stakeholders are co-developing a coherent set of tools and services for seven City Hubs (Cork, Ireland; Athens, Greece; Lillestrøm, Norway; Milan, Italy; Logroño, Spain; Gdynia, Poland; and Amsterdam/APG, the Netherlands).

Photovoltaic technology is a key lever for decarbonising Berlin's power consumption and for social participation in the transformation process, especially for tenants. Therefore, solar energy and projects on rental apartment blocks are key elements of the Berlin Senate's Energy and Climate Protection Programme. In the research project "ElectricityNeighbours", Ecologic Institute and IÖW evaluate the experience gained so far in implementing such prosumer projects in Berlin, outline innovation potentials for the field and develop ideas on how the regulatory framework can be further developed. In doing so, the team looks beyond pure tenant electricity projects to the potentials of sector coupling.

In the scope of the SUDEA project, Ecologic Institute and its partners analysed the challenges of sustainable urban development, to build up city environments that match with global environmental goals. The project's main hypothesis was, that urban development in the Arctic will be more sustainable if the positions of local stakeholders are reflected in decision-processes and policies are aligned across the national and regional level.

Cities and their peripheries are constantly confronted with challenges such as urban sprawl, climate change and pollution. These processes can exacerbate the degradation of natural ecosystems, and jeopardize ecosystem service provisioning with negative consequences for human health and well-being, biodiversity, social cohesion and equity, and, finally, city resilience. The INTERLACE project brings together a unique consortium of European and Latin American partners to contribute to effectively restoring and rehabilitating urban ecosystems to make cities more livable, resilient and inclusive. The project aims to advance knowledge and awareness of restorative nature-based solutions (NBS), such as the restoration of wetlands and rivers, as well as to foster more ecologically coherent and integrated city planning processes. In addition, it lays the foundation for sustained multi-directional cooperation and exchange between European and Latin American cities for wider transformative impact.

In order to reduce air pollution, especially in large cities, Vietnam is discussing the introduction of air quality planning and an integrated permit system as part of the revision of its Law on Environmental Protection. Together with the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues, Ecologic Institute supports the legislative process and develops guidelines for the subsequent implementation of the two instruments.

The project "Data Governance and Regulation for a Sustainable Berlin" examined what forms of data regulation are possible and necessary at city level in Berlin to ensure that data-driven services, products and platforms are developed and used to meet social and environmental sustainability goals.

The project "Circular City Berlin – from potential towards implementation (CiBER 1)" analysed and promoted innovative approaches to the circular economy in various sectors in Berlin. In view of the expected further growth, urban densification and increased economic prosperity of the metropolitan region of Berlin, a long-term sustainable design of urban resource flows is increasingly coming into focus. The corona situation complemented the focus on resilient regional and local economic processes. Local and regional circular value creation is more sustainable, increases the resilience of societies in times of crisis and strengthens social justice and inclusiveness.

In the project "Knowledge. Transformation. Berlin.", the Ecornet Berlin research network pursued the goal of expanding Berlin's pioneering role in innovative approaches for a liveable, climate-neutral and resource-efficient city. Therefore, the research network focused on the existing strengths and diversity of Berlin, but also on the existing ecological and social challenges. The goal was to expand Berlin's pioneering role in the development of innovative approaches in an innovatively way. To this end, the associated institutes worked on several projects in the thematic fields of social climate transformation, sustainable economies and digitalization.

Ecologic Institute investigates the extent to which transport and buildings are already affected by the existing EU emissions trading scheme, e.g. through district heating networks and electromobility. Furthermore, Ecologic Institute contributes case studies on non-European emissions trading schemes covering transport and/or buildings (including California, New Zealand and Tokyo). Furthermore, Ecologic Institute provides analyses on which price-based instruments are already applied in selected EU member states. Finally, Ecologic Institute examines how the expansion of emissions trading would affect competitiveness and the EU's existing climate policy instruments.

In its last coalition agreement (2016-2021), the State of Berlin committed itself to the "Zero Waste" model in order to transform its waste management towards a circular economy. Re-using goods takes centre stage in this transformation. In the context of the political goal of strengthening the reuse of used goods, the project aims at strengthening structures in Berlin to help bringing the used goods market out of its niche. The Ecologic Institute supports the project for the Berlin Senate Administration by designing and conducting online expert dialogues in Berlin, inter alia dealing with used IT-equipment as well as building materials and components.

European cities face major challenges to achieve the desired level of sustainability in the management of urban water systems. Digital technologies such as mobile devices, sensor network, real-time monitoring, machine learning, and modeling tools have the potential to improve the management of water infrastructures significantly. In addition, they can improve the quality of services provided to citizens as well as awareness and cooperation between utilities, public authorities, and citizens in urban water management. The main objective of the project is to boost the integrated management of water systems in five major European cities, Berlin, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris, and Sofia, by leveraging the potential of data and smart digital technologies.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) provide an integrated approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas, while simultaneously offering a range of additional benefits. This project aims to increase the awareness of NBS in Poland as a cost-effective urban climate mitigation measure and build capacity, knowledge and skills among city officials, municipal staff, and landscape planners to enable the conceptual and technical design and implementation of NBS.

The further development of the National Climate Initiative (NCI) is based on the guiding principle of "100 % climate protection" and is ultimately intended to lead to a complete decarbonization of the economy and society, combined with a halving of energy consumption. Achieving this goal requires new approaches at many levels, among many actors and in many areas of daily life. The future further development of the NCI is also to be increasingly focused on this, and the necessary support programs are to be developed for this purpose.

With three quarters of the European Union's population living in cities and further increases expected, societies are increasingly facing socio-political shifts and marginalization. Limited availability of physical space, changing urban demographics, and increasing cultural diversity compound these challenges and create issues like high crime rates, social inequality, poverty, health threats, and unemployment. Some areas are particularly vulnerable, such as economically deprived, abandoned and neglected urban areas with a low share of green spaces. The Horizon2020 funded project “CLEVER Cities” responded to these challenges by designing and implementing locally tailored nature-based solutions (NbS) to foster sustainable and socially inclusive urban regeneration.

The digitization of all spheres of life is progressing steadily, a mega-trend that will continuously and fundamentally change society. Municipalities are also making increasing use of the potential offered by digitization of political and administrative processes. Doris Knoblauch and Susanne Langsdorf (both Ecologic Institute) developed a method that allows municipalities to easily check their (digitization) projects for their contribution to sustainable development. The report and the questionnaire are available for download.

Green and Blue infrastructure (GBI) in cities holds large potential to effectively address emerging global challenges, such as climate change impacts, increasing urbanisation and declining access to nature, as it can deliver multiple societal, ecological and economic benefits in parallel. This multifunctional potential of GBI has only recently begun to gain weight in research, policy and planning and has yet to be fully unlocked. The EU-funded BiodivERsA project 'ENABLE' responds to this gap by utilizing a transdisciplinary systems approach to examine the relationship between social-ecological dynamics and GBI's potential to meet multiple goals, including biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation. The four-year research project, funded by the BiodivERsA network, is led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and supported by Ecologic Institute and nine other research partners.