In 2024, the EU comprehensively revised its Environmental Crime Directive (ECD). This report analyses how the 'ecocide' regulation of the ECD could be transposed into German law.

Nature-based solutions, such as green spaces or river restoration, can make a valuable contribution to municipal climate adaptation. The new topic page 'Nature-based climate adaptation' on the Federal Environment Agency's website highlights different aspects of such approaches and offers municipalities targeted support in their planning and implementation. In addition to information on the legal framework and funding issues, it also contains practical examples and helpful publications. Ecologic Institute designed and implemented the content of the website on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency.

A new paper by the Ecologic Institute and Oeko-Institut discusses how to design climate target for Member States. The paper explores seven options how to best design national climate targets for the time after 2030. This paper is available for download.

This report presents the conclusions of the study titled "Macro-economic / Top-down Assessment of Climate Impacts on the EU Economy." Commissioned to assist the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA), the study explores how climate change-induced hazards may influence the EU's socio-economic landscape. Its central aim is to deliver both qualitative and quantitative perspectives on the broader macro-economic effects of significant climate hazards. It also investigates how these climate-related shocks ripple through different sectors of the economy. By compiling and analysing relevant data, the study provides a knowledge base to help the European Commission assess how such impacts could potentially challenge the EU’s ability to meet its climate mitigation objectives.

A new analysis of 22 updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) shows that many EU Member States are falling short of the bloc’s 2030 climate targets. The study, led by Ecologic Institute in collaboration with the New Climate Institute and Reform Institute, identifies critical gaps in both ambition and implementation across key areas.

Plastic pollution has become a severe global crisis, posing grave threats to the environment, human health, and sustainable development. Driven by unchecked plastic production, the problem worsens through the entire lifecycle of plastics—from creation to disposal—releasing not only large debris but also microscopic particles, monomers, and thousands of chemical additives. These pollutants travel worldwide via air and water currents, damaging ecosystems and wildlife, including marine species that suffer from entanglement, ingestion, and toxicity. This editorial is part of a Special Issue "An effective plastic treaty for marine life".

This video, produced within the REACHOUT project, focuses on the Fluvial Flooding hazard, and showcases how climate service tools can be applied in real-world urban policy challenges. It serves as a visual guide to help municipal representatives, local consultants, and service providers understand and implement these tools effectively.

This video, produced within the REACHOUT project, focuses on the Urban Heat climate hazard, and showcases how climate service tools can be applied in real-world urban policy challenges. It serves as a visual guide to help municipal representatives, local consultants, and service providers understand and implement these tools effectively.

The bioeconomy concept presents an attractive framework for policymakers in Europe, as it holds the potential to foster innovations that match specific community needs with regionally available resources. The SCALE-UP project aims to enhance the capacity and expertise of multi-actor partnerships to accelerate the development of market-ready bio-based products and services while facilitating their successful market deployment. Additionally, SCALE-UP strengthens collaboration among primary producers, SMEs, industry clusters, social actors, and policymakers, promoting a cohesive approach to innovation.

This report, funded by the European Climate Foundation (ECF), examines the assumptions for industrial carbon removals in the European Commission's 2040 Climate Target Impact Assessment. It focuses on the deployment of industrial carbon removal technologies and their resource demands.

As part of the EU-funded REACHOUT project, a comprehensive suite of climate service tools has been developed to support cities in addressing climate adaptation challenges. The newly released Guidelines for Climate Service Tools provide a structured overview of more than 20 technical and soft tools, as well as supporting consultancy services, all integrated into the Triple-A Toolkit – a web-based platform designed to enhance urban climate resilience. The tools address the full policy cycle of adaptation by covering the phases of Analysis, Ambition, and Action, and have been tested and refined through extensive co-creation with seven European City Hubs.

The publication “Locally rooted, globally connected” captures key lessons learned from the knowledge exchanges in the context of the transdisciplinary research and international cooperation between cities, researchers, city networks, and wider stakeholders from Europe and Latin America conducted in the frames of the INTERLACE project. Through partnerships across the two regions, the project highlighted both the opportunities and challenges of working across diverse cultural, institutional, and geographic contexts and demonstrated the importance of tailoring NbS to local contexts while balancing the need for comparability across regions.

This report explores options for scaling up carbon dioxide removals in the EU, considering respective costs, risks and opportunities. This assessment, covering both carbon sinks in the land sector and novel solutions, involves analyses of the status and potential of carbon dioxide removals in the EU, key policy needs and gaps, as well as policy recommendations for a robust EU governance of carbon dioxide removals.

This report summarizes the results of the research project "Scientific support for the design of an EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework" (CRCF) that provided support to national policy makers during the negotiation process and pursued the following objectives.

While hydrogen (H2) emissions make up a negligible fraction of today's GHG emissions, they are set to become more significant in the 2030s and, should the EU and the global community progress towards climate neutrality, will likely be substantial in the 2040s, as achieving climate neutrality requires the expansion of hydrogen use alongside the rapid reduction of other GHGs. As decisions made today will shape hydrogen value chains for decades, this paper develops a series of policy proposals to implement a four-pronged strategy.

Focusing on cities in the European Arctic, this book consolidates research on sustainable development, local and urban governance, and transnational cooperation in the region. It examines to what extent there is transnational cooperation between urban areas in remote locations and how it can be enhanced to better align with global sustainable development policies to successfully implement goals set for example by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

This animated video visualizes the different methods of disposal throughout Germany.

Pharmaceutical substances from creams and gels can enter wastewater when washed off after application. However, this can be reduced by first wiping your hands with a paper towel, disposing of it in the household waste, and only then washing your hands.