Publications

Publication:Article
 
Although pharmaceuticals are indispensable for public healthcare, their environmental impacts are rarely considered during prescribing or dispensing. A newly developed Environmental Pharmaceutical Index (EPI) aims to integrate environmental information systematically into pharmaceutical and medical decision-making. The objective is to balance therapeutical needs and environmental impacts by supporting the selection of therapeutically equivalent medicines with lower environmental impacts without compromising patient care.

Environmental Pharmaceutical Index – a practical information, classification and dissemination system for medication in Germany

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Publication:Document
 
The article "Implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation requires a shift from restoration targets to restoration landscapes" was published in 2026 as a Comment in Nature Reviews Biodiversity. In their contribution, Daniel Hering, Benjamin Kupilas and Rafaela Schinegger discuss the governance, spatial planning and financing mechanisms required to translate the ambitions of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation into effective, landscape-scale ecosystem restoration across Europe.

Implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation Requires a Shift from Restoration Targets to Restoration Landscapes

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Publication:Report
 
ECNO’s 2026 State of EU Progress to Climate Neutrality report provides a comprehensive assessment of whether the European Union is moving quickly enough to meet its climate goals. Drawing on a broad set of indicators and policy analysis, the report evaluates progress across the economy and identifies where stronger implementation could reduce exposure to fossil fuel dependence, supply-chain vulnerabilities, affordability challenges and climate-related risks.

State of EU Progress to Climate Neutrality – 2026 Flagship Report

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Publication:Report
 
The white paper brings together evidence and recommendations from seven EU-funded projects, including RESTORE4Cs. The paper highlights the urgent need to accelerate wetland conservation and restoration across Europe, as degraded wetlands continue to drive biodiversity loss, weaken water resilience, and turn ecosystems that can store carbon into sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Prioritising Wetland Conservation and Restoration in Europe

United voices for more policy impact

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Publication:Article
 
The European Commission’s proposed Omnibus Simplification Package aims to streamline the authorisation of pesticides and reduce regulatory burdens within the European Union. However, a new Policy Forum article published in Science argues that the proposal could significantly weaken environmental risk assessment procedures and increase risks to biodiversity and human health. According to the authors, the current EU pesticide framework already contains important gaps, including insufficient consideration of impacts on many non-target organisms, cumulative effects of multiple pesticides, and sublethal ecological impacts. Rather than addressing these shortcomings, the Omnibus proposal may exacerbate them.

EU Omnibus Proposal Increases Pesticide Risks

More efficient environmental risk assessment and stronger protection are achievable

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Publication:Policy Brief
 
How can Europe finance large-scale ecosystem restoration at a time of growing pressure on public budgets? A new Biodiversa+ policy brief explores how well-designed Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can help mobilise private investment while safeguarding ecological integrity and delivering long-term societal benefits. Building on the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, the brief outlines practical recommendations to create investment-ready restoration projects, strengthen public-private collaboration, and establish the policy conditions needed to scale up private financing for nature restoration across Europe.

Enabling Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to Finance EU Nature Restoration

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Publication:Report
 
This paper argues that there is no plausible basis for the introduction of a “grace period” in respect of infringements of Article 27 of the EU Methane Emissions Regulation (EUMR), as proposed in a recently leaked draft European Commission Recommendation.

EU Methane Regulation Article 27: the Case Against a Grace Period

Why the ordinary enforcement regime does not endanger EU energy security

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Publication:Document
 
Researchers at Ecologic Institute have developed a new tool to help governments to produce socially just climate adaptation strategies. The Just2Adapt tool allows the user to analyse the justice dimensions of Heat Action Plans at the strategic level as well as at the level of individual measures. It is important that heat adaptation strategies integrate social justice considerations because of the unequal way in which the heat-health effects of climate change are distributed across the population.

Just2Adapt Tool: Supporting governments with socially just climate adaptation

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Publication:Report
 
MEER:STARK provides practical recommendations and an integrated framework for strengthening the resilience of the North Sea and Baltic Sea to climate-related impacts. The project demonstrates that effective marine conservation and climate adaptation should be addressed jointly rather than as separate policy domains. By linking ecological restoration, adaptive governance, nature-based solutions, and participatory management approaches, the project offers a foundation for developing more coherent and resilient marine policies in the future.

MEER:STARK – Meeresentlastung und Resilienzstärkung

Sektorübergreifende Transformation, Anpassung, Revitalisierung und Klimaschutz für Nord- und Ostsee

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Publication:Report
 
As the European Union considers to reform its Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) by integrating permanent carbon dioxide removals (CDR), this report examines safeguards to support the gradual scale-up of permanent removals whilst keeping their quantity under control to manage risks and ensure incentives for reducing emissions remain

Options for Implementing Limits for CDR Integrated Into the EU ETS 1

Final Report

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Publication:Article
 
In this article Dr. Stephan Sina provides an overview of the key provisions of the Directive, with a focus on water protection offences, and examines, based on the planned implementation in Germany, the extent to which the Directive facilitates the prosecution of water crime. This is also of interest to Switzerland, as the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Crime Law, adopted in 2025, is modelled on the Directive.

Die EU-Umweltstrafrechtsrichtlinie: Der Schlüssel zur konsequenten Verfolgung von Wasserkriminalität?

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Publication:Document
 
Mangroves, coral reefs and other coastal ecosystems can play a crucial role in reducing climate-related risks while supporting biodiversity and local livelihoods. A new discussion paper reviews the current state of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in tropical coastal regions and explores financing instruments that can help scale up and sustain coastal resilience measures over the long term.

Ecosystem-based Adaptation at Tropical Coasts

Stocktake and financing instruments

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Publication:Report
 
Prescribing decisions are currently guided primarily by therapeutic efficacy, patient safety and cost-effectiveness. A recent feasibility study explores how environmental information could also become part of routine pharmaceutical decision-making in the future. At the centre of the proposed concept is a German Environmental Pharmaceutical Index (EPI), designed to provide standardised environmental information on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and make it readily accessible for healthcare professionals.

Arzneimittelindex Umwelt

Machbarkeitsstudie zur Etablierung eines pharmazeutischen Umweltinformations- und Klassifikationssystems in Deutschland

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Publication:Article
 
A new Roundtable published by The Nature of Cities asks a central question for the planning and implementation of nature-based solutions: whose voices shape decisions, and who remains unheard? Curated by McKenna Davis of Ecologic Institute and Natalia Andrea Burgos Cuevas of the IUCN, the Roundtable brings together 29 contributors from around the world to reflect on what meaningful inclusion, co-creation and environmental justice can look like in practice.

Whose Voices Shape and Make Decisions in Nbs, and Who Doesn’t Get Included?

What could real inclusion look like in practice?

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Publication:Report
 
In light of the agreed expansion of European emissions trading (inter alia the gradual inclusion of maritime transport and the introduction of the EU ETS 2), the study contains an analysis of the current sanctions regime in emissions trading. The fundamental amendment to the TEHG brought about by the TEHG EU Alignment Act 2024 has already been taken into account. Proposals for a more effective sanctions regime are put forward, relating both the enforcement of existing regulations and reforms of these regulations. The study focuses on administrative offence law.

Effizienter Vollzug der Sanktionen im Emissionshandelsrecht

Ordnungswidrigkeitenrecht und Festsetzung von Zahlungspflichten

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Publication:Article
 
To assess current knowledge and identify future research priorities, approximately 40 experts from academia, policy institutions, and the science–policy interface convened in Berlin in September 2025 for an international workshop on the Arctic land–ocean carbon cycle. The outcomes of these discussions have now been published in a meeting summary co-authored by Arne Riedel Escobar of Ecologic Institute, providing a roadmap for future research and policy engagement.

Research Priorities for the Coupled Arctic Land–Ocean Carbon Cycle

Integrating Scientific and Policy Perspectives

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