Projects

Project
 
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.

Carbon Farming

a scientific basis

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Project
 
This project, led by Ecologic Institute, will design and implement an information platform on human pharmaceuticals in the environment within the German Federal Environment Agency's website. The aim of the information platform is to promote the environmentally conscious use of pharmaceuticals in the health care sector and to communicate its necessity and benefits.

Information Material to Strengthen the Sustainable Use of Pharmaceuticals

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Project
 
To strengthen climate protection in Germany, the amendment of the Climate Protection Act in 2021 further tightened the greenhouse gas emission targets for 2030 and set the goal of climate neutrality for the year 2045. An important step in the energy sector is the phase-out of lignite mining and coal-based electricity generation. The decision to phase out lignite mining in Germany by 2038 at the latest does not only affect energy and climate policy. In the coming years, the lignite mining areas will face a fundamental structural change, which is to be flanked with extensive funding and steered in the sense of sustainable spatial development.

Sustainable Development of Infrastructures in Regions of Structural Change (TransIS)

Possible contributions of infrastructures to the socio-ecological transformation of German lignite mining regions

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Project
 
This project looks at the distributional effects of energy tax reform across Europe and develops recommendations for making the reforms socially and environmentally sound. Ecologic Institute contributes to this project with its expertise of German energy taxation and will translate the findings of the modelling exercise to the German context.

Towards a Fair and Green Energy Tax Reform in the EU

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Project
 
Climate lawsuits have become a frequently chosen tool in the fight for more ambitious climate policies in recent years. In the extensive reporting on this topic, one aspect has so far been neglected: the differences between the jurisprudence in the Global South and the Global North. To address the related issues, Verfassungsblog, Völkerrechtsblog and the journal World Comparative Law (WCL) in cooperation with the Ecologic Institute are organizing an online symposium on the subject of "Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective".

Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective

Online Symposium

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Project
 
On behalf of the European Parliament, Ecologic Institute with support from IEEP investigate the potential of carbon farming to mitigate emissions in the EU and how to effectively increase carbon farming action. Ahead of two key EU Commission policy proposals in December 2021 (the 'Carbon Farming Initiative' and 'Carbon Removals Certification Mechanism'), the study summarises existing knowledge on carbon farming options, business models, and challenges. It also evaluates funding and policy opportunities to support its uptake.

Carbon Farming: Making agriculture fit for 2030

Study for the EU Parliament

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Project
 
The "Development Plan for the Sea – Strategy for an Integrated German Maritime Policy" was published back in 2011 and has so far set the framework for all sea-related policies in Germany. An integrated maritime policy encompasses all facets of sea-based activities across different sectors. Basically, they can be summarised in the three sustainability pillars 'ecology, economy, and social'. A comprehensive evaluation of Germany's integrated maritime policy has not yet taken place due to the lack of a compilation of appropriate indicators for assessment. The project 'Indicators of an Integrated German Maritime Policy' aims to close this gap.

Indicators of an Integrated German Marine Policy

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Project
 
Ecologic Institute is collaborating with the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and Ramboll Consulting on a project for the European Environment Agency (EEA) entitled "The Cost of Adaptation versus the Cost of Inaction for Europe." This follows up a 2020-project, "Overview of Accessibility of the Climate Change Adaptation Finance Data in Europe," also for the EEA.

The Cost of Adaptation Versus the Cost of Inaction for Europe

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Project:Horizon 2020
 
To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, EU policy will have to be reoriented – from incremental towards structural change. As expressed in the European Green Deal, the challenge is to initiate the necessary transformation to climate neutrality in the coming years, while enhancing competitiveness, productivity, employment. To mobilise the creative, financial and political resources, the EU also needs a governance framework that facilitates cross-sectoral policy integration and that allows citizens, public and private stakeholders to participate in the process and to own the results.

Transformative Policies for a Climate-neutral European Union (4i-TRACTION)

Innovation, Investment, Infrastructure, and sectoral Integration

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Project
 
Regions play a central role in achieving the substantial acceleration of renewable energy deployment required to reach the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets. This project examined the socio-economic effects of renewable energy deployment at the regional level in the EU and subsequently identified factors that are conducive to an equitable energy transition. Ecologic Institute conducted a case study on the role of renewable energy and its socio-economic imparts in the North German region Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Exploring the Socio-economic Impact of Energy Transition in EU Regions

Case study Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

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Project
 
In Germany, environmental policy began to form as an independent policy field in the late 1960s. A major milestone in the history of German environmental policy was the adoption of the Federal Government's first environmental programme in 1971. Ecologic Institute supports the BMU (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) in the review of this historical event.

50 Years of Environmental Programme

Historical analysis of German Environmental Policy since 1971

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Project
 
Re-Use
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 supporting and executing re-use measures in Berlin in order to foster structures and actors in Berlin that bring the used goods market out of its niche. The Ecologic Institute supports the project for the Berlin Senate Administration by designing and conducting three virtual expert dialogues in Berlin.

Supporting and Executing Re-use Measures in Berlin 2021 - 2022

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Project
 
Ecomodulation of fees can play a crucial role in incentivising upstream design changes by reducing the fees for products or packaging designed for circular economy. Products or packaging with circular design (e.g., a minimum percentage of recycled content, high reparability index, reduction in weight of material, shift from low to easily recyclable material(s)) could benefit from reduced fees, while those with design barriers, which are also often exported to developing countries for end-of-life treatment, could incur higher fees. Thus, ecomodulation of fees can play a vital role in prioritizing design for as waste prevention, reusability, reparability and recyclability. Against this background, this project run by Ecologic Institute focuses on the product streams batteries, plastic/packaging, textiles and waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Extended Producer Responsibility and Ecomodulation of Fees

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Project
 
Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues. Calls for a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution have increased over the last years, discussions will continue at the next sessions of the UN Environment Assembly in February 2022. After the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics concluded its work in November 2020, various countries have started to prepare positions and forge alliances in preparation of these pending discussions.

A Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution – Perspectives from Asia

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Project
 
In 2019, the EU and the countries of the South American trade bloc Mercosur concluded negotiations on a trade agreement. The negotiated text of the agreement includes a chapter on trade and sustainability. The rules on forest protection are weak, however, and the agreement does not provide for sanctions for violations of sustainability-related commitments, either. Against this backdrop, Ralph Bodle and Christiane Gerstetter, both Senior Fellows at the Ecologic Institute, analyse legal options for strengthening forest protection in the agreement. The legal analysis was compiled on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU).

Options for Stronger Forest Protection in the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement

Legal analysis

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Project
 
The project "Capacity Building Emissions Trading to Support Bilateral Cooperation" aims to disseminate knowledge on emissions trading internationally and to support partner countries in setting up national emissions trading systems. The consortium supports the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety's bilateral activities in the field of capacity development and training on emissions trading. Former and current cooperation partners include Brazil, China, Chile, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine.

Capacity Building on Emissions Trading to Support Bilateral Cooperation 2021-2022

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Project
 
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.

ElectricityNeighbours – Can tenants in Berlin's apartment buildings become prosumers through solar power projects and sector coupling?

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Project
 
Ecologic Institute has been contracted to support the European Commission in preparing a draft version of the Guidance on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy river restoration targets, thereby bringing together existing knowledge and technical input from different contributors into a coherent document.

Guidance on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy River Restoration Targets

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Project
 
Ecologic Institute, together with partners, will develop recommendations on how environmental offences can be better prevented in Germany through deterrent sanctions. The project first investigates at a theoretical level under which conditions a certain sanction, such as a prison sentence, has a deterrent effect against environmental law violations. These theoretical considerations are substantiated by means of case studies on illegal waste disposal and disposal of waste by ships on the sea. On this basis, the research team will develop recommendations for policies as well as practical measures to improve enforcement.

Criminal and other Sanctions in Environmental Law

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Project
 
Thuringia is one of the first German states to draft its own resource conservation strategy. This requires a solid data basis on the resource flows of the state. In the ThüRess project, Ecologic Institute and the Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS) are developing this database as well as measures for such a resource conservation strategy.

Resource Flows in Thuringia, Germany (ThueRess)

supporting regional Ministry of Environment in resource and circular economy policy

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Project
 
This project supports the EU Commission's DG CLIMA to develop and evaluate different options for certifying carbon removal solutions. Carbon removals, also known as negative emissions, include nature-based technologies such as afforestation and soil carbon, and technology-based approaches, including carbon capture and storage from direct air or bioenergy. To reach the EU's 2050 goal of climate neutrality, alongside mitigation of GHG emissions, the EU must remove substantial amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. This project assesses existing knowledge and identifies policy options to increase carbon removals across Europe.

Support on Devising a Carbon Removal Certification Mechanism

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Project
 
The aim of this project is to develop and test a methodology to assess the management effectiveness of marine Natura 2000 sites and other EU MPAs, in the context of obligations under the Birds and Habitats Directives and commitments under the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030. This methodology will build on experiences and methods used in the Natura 2000 network and other MPAs, as well as on any other available efforts in developing new systems that can be applied to the European context.

Management Effectiveness of Marine Natura 2000 Sites and other EU Marine Protected Areas

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Project
 
In this project, three sufficiency projects are to be implemented, which the contractors had developed together with UBA employees in the previous project.

More Quality of Life, Less Environmental Usage

Development of user-oriented sufficiency policy project drafts in the Environment Department (sub-project 2)

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Project
 
This project supports EU Member States in fulfilling a part of their legal requirements under the National Emissions Ceilings (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU), by providing them with targeted capacity building as well as updating and developing the toolbox of ecosystem reporting tools. The latter includes proposing core parameters and harmonized protocols; drafting guidance on site selection; and updating the reporting template and corresponding technical guidance.

Support to Member States Regarding the Monitoring of Effects of Air Pollution on Ecosystems According to Art. 9(1) of the NEC Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2284)

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Project
 
To fulfill its commitments under the Paris Agreement, the European Union plans to increase the ambition of its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. As a basis for this debate, in December 2020, the EU Commission published the communication "Stepping up Europe's 2030 climate ambition" and a related Impact Assessment (IA) on raising the 2030 target in September 2019. In the communication, the Commission proposed to increase the EU target to -55% compared to 1990 and presents different policy approaches to reach this target.

A "Fit for 55" Package Based on Environmental Integrity and Solidarity

A policy toolkit to make carbon pricing work for all Europeans

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Project
 
Estuaries are under considerable human pressure from river basin inputs and direct sources of pollution from ports and industrial sites. In addition, there are countless human activities, including cargo shipping, tourism, trade and fishing. Climate change also results in longer periods of heat and oxygen deficiency, which have a negative impact on the ecosystem. In this diverse range of pressures, clear, science-led and sustainable management is a challenge.

Blue Estuaries – Developing Estuaries as Habitable Sustainable Ecosystem Despite Climate Change and Stress (BluEs)

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