This report analyses how the need for measures to reduce the nutrient load is assessed in the river basin management planning to meet the environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive for coastal waters in the EU Member States or river basin districts that share coastal waters with Denmark. Thus, the analysis covers Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland.
In 2018, the European Commission will publish its report on the assessment of the second RBMPs and will start the process of evaluating the WFD (EC, 2017a). To accompany and inform this process, the EEA has produced this report on the state of Europe's water. In addition, the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) Freshwater visualisation tool presents more, and more detailed, results.
In June 2018, the joint statement of the Expert Commission on the "Energy of the Future" Monitoring Process was published. Ecologic Institute provides scientific support to the work of the Expert Commission with a focus on the key topics that Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing and the Expert Commission selected for their joint statement. The joint statement is available for download.
Strong national climate governance frameworks are crucial to establish and maintain political support for the low-carbon transition and facilitate the implementation of policies. The truly robust governance frameworks combine key elements such as legally binding targets reached with high level of political support, broad stakeholder participation and review mechanisms that allow for adjustments over time. Creation of dedicated institutions with clearly assigned responsibilities and powers is essential to ensure the robustness and effectiveness of the framework. The study, co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Matthias Duwe, is available for download.
This summary pocket book presents key recommendations gathered in the project RECREATE regarding future research and innovation needs in "Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials". The results include very concrete recommendations on selected topics, overarching recommendations which shall help integrating the different research areas better and recommendations regarding the use of various methodologies. The summary pocket book is available for download.
Systems analysis could be an essential approach to shape resource efficiency policy in a sustainable long term perspective. In the SimRess project, we tested systems thinking to develop a system dynamic resource use simulation model and ii) to investigate policy mixes for resource conservation. The report, which is available for download, documents and summarizes the various results of the workshops and the systems analysis. The study was carried out by the SimRess project partners, with Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers from Ecologic Institute as lead-author.
The SimRess project tested the potential effects of future developments and strategies relevant to resource policy on important environmental and economic indicators. The study summarises the main project findings of the project "Models, Potentials and Long-Term Scenarios for Resource Efficiency". It is available for download.
In this report the authors, which include Stephanie Wunder, Keighley McFarland and Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers from Ecologic Institute, provide an overview of the most relevant EU policies and instruments with an impact on food waste generation and/or prevention. The report explains the relevance of the different policy areas at EU level and identifies the gaps, overlaps and unintended effects of EU regulation. Finally, it identifies potential opportunities for improvement in each policy area. The report is available for download.
The present report is about methodologies used in European countries for river hydromorphological assessment and monitoring across scales. It has been developed as part of the work programme 2016-2018 of the Common Implementation Strategy Ad-hoc Task Group on Hydromorphology. It summarises key information reported via a questionnaire on hydromorphological assessment methods used in European countries for WFD implementation. The report is available for download.
The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIP Platform) was established in Paris in 2015, but its operationalization is still ongoing. The LCIP Platform could provide an important next step towards a nuanced inclusion of specific non-Party stakeholders in the UNFCCC process. Based on the negotiation process for the Platform and on current modes of participation of non-Party stakeholders, this report develops a toolkit of governance elements for the Platform. The report, written by Arne Riedel and Ralph Bodle, both of Ecologic Institute, is available for download.
The Commission's proposal for Article 10 of the Regulation for the Governance of the Energy Union (GReg) and the related positions of the Council and the Parliament are currently being negotiated. In this report Ecologic Institute's Dr. Heidi Stockhaus analyses the proposals in the light of the EU’s obligations under the Aarhus Convention and highlights the shortcomings that need to be addressed.
The DEMEAU project followed a solutions-oriented approach using applied research and demonstration sites, and explored four promising technologies for emerging contaminants removal and/or degradation: Managed Aquifer Recharge, Hybrid Ceramic Membrane Filtration, Automatic Neural Net Control Systems and Advanced Oxidation Techniques.
The EU's current rules on climate action are comprehensive and detailed. However, they lack many of these features. In this sense, the existing EU acquis falls short of what countries and regions have adopted. It also falls short of what the full implementation of the Paris Agreement implies. The Regulation on Governance for the Energy Union and Climate Action addresses a number of existing shortcomings. It is a strong foundation for a Climate Law for Europe. However, gaps remain that should be filled in a reform. These are the main findings of a recently updated paper of Ecologic Institute, which is available for download.
Hydromorphological alterations for drainage are widespread pressures on water bodies in Europe. Because of the importance of the water uses relying on drainage schemes, such as agriculture and urban areas, not all necessary restoration measures can be taken without significant adverse effect on the water use. Therefore many of the affected water bodies have been designated as heavily modified (HMWB). Still, in a substantial number of these water bodies, some mitigation measures should be taken to reach Good Ecological Potential (GEP). The report, edited by Ecologic Institute's Dr. Eleftheria Kampa and Dr. Josselin Rouillard, is available for download.
One of the core activities for the Common Implementation Strategy Working Group ECOSTAT between 2013 and 2017 has been to try to compare the ecological quality expected by different countries for water bodies impacted by flood protection. The process involved the use of a number of workshops and questionnaires to collect relevant information from European water managers. This report, edited by Dr. Eleftheria Kampa (Ecologic Institute) and Martina Bussettini, is based on information collected via a template on mitigation measures for water bodies impacted by flood defence structures, which was completed by 18 countries. The report is available for download.