In this study published by the European Commission, a first assessment is made of the strategic decisions made by Member States for the use of EUR 307 billion in support of agriculture and rural areas between 2023 and 2027. It maps the choices made in the CAP Strategic Plans (CSP) approved in December 2022 and analyses the joint efforts and potential impacts of Member States’ choices in relation to the nine specific objectives and the cross-cutting objective, with a focus on selected Green Deal targets.
The current evaluation of the Masterplan Municipality Guideline for the 2016 to 2019 funding period is now available. Within this funding period, 13.5 million euros were given to 22 municipalities to finance and implement master plans that would lead the municipalities to climate neutrality by 2050. As a result, the supported municipalities could achieve greenhouse gas savings amounting to 1.2 million tons over a period of 10 years.
The evaluation of the municipal networks for the period 2018 to 2021 is now published and available for download. 28 projects were funded with Euro 5.66 million, and municipalities contributed almost Euro 3.8 Mio. own revenue for the networking activities. Over the evaluation period, the networks contributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 69.2 thousand tonnes of CO2.
This study aims to contribute to the further development of the Member States' reporting to the EU with regard to the National Energy and Climate Change Plans (NECPs), especially with regard to the national progress reports, the NECP updates and a possible revision of the Governance Regulation. The authors developed an in-depth understanding of the selected PaMs and the methodological and systemic uncertainties involved in their ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment.
The latest evaluation of the innovative climate protection projects for the period 2020 to 2021 is now available. During this evaluation period, the projects accomplished an additional 0.41 million metric tonnes of CO2 reductions, alongside notably higher indirect reductions. The projects were able to trigger transformation by empowering their target groups to question, change and replace prevailing structures, established practices and techniques. At the same time, their predominantly national coverage as well as visibility, comprehensibility and connectivity for the target group and imitators contributed to a high transformational outcome.
Indicators measuring progress towards climate neutrality must address the often structural, sectoral, and cross-sectoral changes implied by the transition, covering both the economic and social dimensions. To address this, Ecologic Institute developed this working document, testing an indicator framework for assessing the progress to climate neutrality by 2050. The document offers a glimpse at areas where developments are currently headed in the right direction or lagging behind.
The report summarises the results of a ReFoPlan project that dealt with interactions between the three agendas, possibilities of their integrated implementation and the development of Sustainable Adaptation Pathways. It provides an overview of the background and objectives, work packages, analysis results and the events held as part of the project.
The central objective of the work presented in this report was to assess the European Commission's Strategic Long-Term Vision and supplementary materials and reflect on them in light of state-of-the-art sector analyses.
The paper "Making EU Governance Fit for Net Zero" analyses the current landscape of climate policy governance against eight core parameters at EU level and for Member States, and identifies a number of remaining weaknesses. Improvements should address several key processes, such as updating of the NECPs in 2023-2024 and of national LTSs and the new progress and consistency assessments under the EU Climate Law.
This report documents the results of three social-empirical research phases, which were carried out as work package 3 in the project "Trend Radar Resource Policy". In each case, citizens from all social milieus were surveyed within the framework of Moderated Research Online Communities on their assessment of trends identified in the project that are relevant to the use of natural resources and on the acceptance of political measures to conserve resources. The results show a high level of willingness to do more individually to protect natural resources, but also the expectation that politicians will create binding framework conditions for this.
In the "Smart Energy Showcase" programme (SINTEG), more than 300 research institutes and companies in five model regions developed solutions for a future energy system that will be entirely based on renewable energies. The participants not only developed new technologies, processes and market mechanisms, they also proposed changes to the legal framework that would allow those solutions to be scaled up. Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy that initiated SINTEG, Ecologic Institute just published a systematic overview of the issues addressed in these proposals for regulatory change. Moreover, the report discusses the proposals in the context of the ongoing national energy policy debate.
The funding call "Municipal Networks" is part of the National Climate Initiative (NCI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Since 2008, the NCI funds climate protection projects throughout Germany, thus contributing to the achievement of the Federal Government's climate protection goals. The funding call pursues the economic and sustainable unlocking of saving potentials in the field of energy efficiency, resource efficiency and climate-friendly mobility through cooperation between municipalities and administrative units. The two funding phases cover the recruitment of municipal participants in energy efficiency networks (recruitment phase) and the establishment and operation of these networks (network phase). The funding also serves to permanently maintain these networks beyond the funding period to continuously implement further efficiency measures within this framework.
The funding call for the Innovative Climate Protection Projects is part of the National Climate Protection Initiative (NCI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Since 2008, the NCI funds climate protection projects throughout Germany, thus contributing to the achievement of the Federal Government's climate protection goals. The innovative climate protection projects impart new or disseminate existing knowledge to change behaviour, purchasing decisions, practices, and processes. To this end, the projects run campaigns or provide direct advice, facilitate knowledge exchange, and help with capacity building and education in the diverse climate-relevant fields of action.
Bueb, Benedict, Tröltzsch, Jenny, Reichwein, David, Oldenburg, Clara, Favero, Fausto (2021): Case Studies of Sustainable Adaptation Pathways. Appendix to the Paper "Towards Sustainable Adaptation Pathways: A concept for integrative actions to achieve the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework". Climate Change | 48/2021. Dessau-Roßlau: Umweltbundesamt
The devastating flash floods and forest fires in Europe in summer 2021 have highlighted the need for stronger linking disaster risk management with climate adaptation efforts. This report introduces the concept of Sustainable Adaptation Pathways that can act as guidance when planning and implementing integrated policies to foster adaptation measures in line with disaster risk reduction efforts and sustainable development.
Bueb, Benedict, Tröltzsch, Jenny (2021): Policy Brief: Towards Sustainable Adaptation Pathways A Concept for Integrative Actions to Achieve the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework. Dessau-Roßlau: Umweltbundesamt
Various economical methods are available for the monetary assessment of the effects of environmentally induced diseases as well as the resulting deaths. This report serves as a basis for the development of concrete monetary valuations of environmental burdens of disease, which is illustrated by three case studies.
Ecologic Institute designed a programme flyer as part of the visual identity for the project "Plastic in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions." The programme flyer was developed and designed to provide relevant content on the conference agenda in a concerted way to participants.