This study presents selected (inter)national and regional initiatives for the circular economy, including the European Circular Economy Action Plan and the circular economy in China's 14th Five-Year Plan and shows if and how these strategies take developing and emerging countries into account. Furthermore, the study explores some of the key effects that come with increased circularity. Key topics discussed are the effect on trade in primary raw materials, the shift to bio-based products, a possible reduction in waste exports and knowledge transfer. The report also provides a brief analysis of selected specific measures from the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan of 2020, with a special focus on their potential impact on developing and emerging countries.

This study examines the role of nature-based solutions (NBS) for global climate protection and in international climate policy. It provides a critical assessment of global mitigation potentials of NBS in forests, croplands, grasslands, terrestrial and coastal wetlands, and settlements and provides recommendations for international climate policy such as under ⁠UNFCCC⁠. The results show that the potential of NBS to mitigate emissions is probably overestimated in the scientific literature due to various factors. Nevertheless, NBS can bring multiple benefits for people and the environment and should be promoted actively.

Sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere – 'carbon removals' – is essential to achieve Europe's 2050 net-zero climate goals. This report considers twelve nature- and technology-based carbon removal solutions, evaluating their climate mitigation potential and suitability for deployment across Europe. The report supports the European Commission's development of a certification mechanism for carbon removals.

The European Commission is developing a certification mechanism to incentivise the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. To support its development, this report reviews 24 existing carbon removal certification mechanisms and methodologies and identifies key lessons for mechanism design.

The guidance document on Barrier Removal for River Restoration has been developed by the European Commission, with the support of Eleftheria Kampa (Ecologic Institute) as advisor. The guidance was developed to assist Member States in identifying and prioritising barriers that could be removed to help achieve the target of the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 to restore 25 000 km of rivers to be free-flowing. The guidance document is available for download.

This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2010 and 2019, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik") and the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution statistics ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both, an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. In addition, the publication contains data on administrative offences relating to trafficking of protected species. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.

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.

This EEA technical report was authored by Ecologic Institute and aims to improve the knowledge base on different realities of national protected area management. Based on a semi-structured survey conducted in 12 Member States, the report showcases individual national approaches and practices, as well as challenges and successes in the management of protected areas.

As part of this study, stakeholder feedback from the European textile sector was gathered on bottlenecks and enablers for textile-to-textile recycling. Overall, the participating stakeholders distinctly signaled to be open and prepared for ambitious policy approaches. Next, policy options were developed aiming to enhance textile recycling as part of a circular textile economy in the EU.

This background report examines European Green Deal policies from a resource nexus perspective, identifying relevant challenges and opportunities associated with particular transition pathways foreseen in the European Green Deal. The background report functions as a supporting document to the EEA briefing on these topics entitled "Applying a 'resource nexus' lens to policy: opportunities for increasing coherence". A brief overview of the European Green Deal as well as the resource nexus is included in this introduction to familiarise all readers with the relevant concepts.

The report "Governance Analysis for Planning and Implementation of Urban NBS" presents insights from a governance analysis conducted in the six INTERLACE partner cities: CBIMA (Costa Rica), Chemnitz (Germany), Envigado (Colombia), Granollers (Spain), Metropolia Krakowska (Poland), and Portoviejo (Ecuador). The analysis examines existing governance structures, policymaking and implementation practices, as well as challenges and enabling factors for advancing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in urban areas.

The COACCH project (CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs) has proactively involved stakeholders in the design and delivery of research, as part of a collaborative co-production process. To do this, it developed a set of success factors for successful co-design and developed a protocol (process) for implementation. This was implemented for the project, through the use of working group and deep engagement stakeholders. This deliverable reports on the lessons from this co-creation approach.

This study examines current proposals for the further expansion of photovoltaics and analyses the solutions used in Spain, the Netherlands and Austria. It shows that the two central goals – accelerating the PV expansion and involving residents – are in tension with each other, at least in the short term.

As the source of 10% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions and a major carbon sink, agriculture offers significant potential to mitigate climate change. This on-farm agricultural climate mitigation is referred to as carbon farming. 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 incentivise farmers to act. Ahead of two key EU Commission policy proposals in December 2021 (the 'Carbon Farming Initiative' and 'Carbon Removals Certification Mechanism'), this study summarises existing knowledge on carbon farming options, business models, challenges, and evaluates funding and policy opportunities to support its uptake. The report is available to download.

The year 2021 saw a positive dynamic on climate action internationally, despite the pandemic and its negative impacts on people’s well-being and on the global economy. Especially, the reverse in the US approach to the climate crisis has provided a new boost. Moreover, COP26 in Glasgow created political momentum, as it has shown a global spotlight on the need for international action and on various forms of cooperation to achieve the 1.5 °C target. In 2022, there are several windows of opportunity for further advances in multilateral cooperation on the climate crisis, including in the G7 and G20 discussions, led by Germany and Indonesia, respectively. And the new German government has reiterated its desire to create a new "climate club" in this context. This report contains several proposals for specific new initiatives that could be started.