The European Commission and the Council call for increased regional cooperation between Member States. In addition to strengthening the internal market, this cooperation is meant to facilitate the implementation of the EU 2030 energy efficiency and renewable targets. In this policy paper, Ecologic Institute's Katharina Umpfenbach, Andreas Graf and Camilla Bausch take a closer look at the existing landscape of regional institutions in the European electricity sector to explore their potential contribution to an effective future governance framework. The policy paper is available for download.

Impacts of environmental policy often only occur in the long term and there is no market price to value them. How can costs and benefits of these measures be evaluated and compared anyway? This working guide provides support for legislation impact assessment and supports the quantification of the impacts of environmental policies on environment and economy. The guide is available for download.

Dimitrova, Asya; Anna Dimitrova; Markus Hametner and Tanja Srebotnjak 2014: Blueprint for a Revised Europe 2020 strategy: preliminary study.

This document provides a state-of-the-art review to support the conceptual and practical development of the DESSIN ESS Evaluation Framework. It briefly presents the state of affairs regarding the measurement of changes in ESS, including description of existing classification systems, analytical frameworks and economic valuation methodologies. The challenges associated with spatial and temporal variations of ESS are considered and an approach to define and measure sustainability is presented. Finally, the next steps in the work plan of Work Area 1 are outlined.

This study developed a Technical Guidance for the managing authorities of Rural Development Programs (RDPs) on how to further mainstream new and innovative climate actions in RDPs. The study was commissioned by the Directorate General for Climate Action and led by Ecologic Institute. The study report, which includes the Technical Guidance, is available for download.

This thematic issue highlights recent research focusing on the interaction of ecological, economic, and social objectives in coastal management and policy making. It covers various experiences in regards to the management and implementation of the European Union's key policy initiatives. The research presented and emphasized the need for coordinated and clear management roles between institutions and government levels as well as the importance of trust and involvement of local stakeholders. Benjamin Boteler of Ecologic Institute was the guest editor. The publication is available for download.

Lambert, A. / Hirschnitz-Garbers, M. / Wilts, H. / v. Gries, N. (2014): Politikinstrumente zur Umsetzung von Rücknahmesystemen im Bereich Elektrogeräte. Kurzanalyse AP2 im Projekt Ressourcenpolitik: Analyse der ressourcenpolitischen Debatte und Entwicklung von Politikoptionen (PolRess).

On 3 December 2014, the first progress report from the Federal Government and a joint statement from the Expert Commission about the "Energy of the Future" monitoring process were presented. Ecologic Institute supports the work of the Expert Commission by providing scientific input. The joint statement from the Expert Commission is available for download.

The relationship between biodiversity and human wellbeing is multifaceted and assumes diverse forms across and within populations. In developing countries, for example, biodiversity and natural resources often constitute the basis of people’s livelihoods and thus their material wellbeing. Many individuals also feel a cultural, spiritual, or religious relationship with nature and assign it an inherent value. This study explores these diverse perceptions of biodiversity and its value. The findings serve to advance discussions on how development cooperation can more effectively integrate these views and therewith improve biodiversity and nature conservation. The study is available for download.

In this report by Ecologic Institute, the authors analyze the conditions for accessing the main European trading centers for emission allowances. The authors examine possible interactions between the primary and secondary markets and question whether a relationship between the price developments on the primary and the secondary market exists. The comprehensive empirical survey also represents the acquisition channels of German plant operators in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS). The report is available for download.

The purpose of the SWITCH-ON Market Analysis Framework (MAF) is to provide developers with guidelines and supplementary resources to support the analysis of new and existing markets for SWITCH-ON products and services. The framework will equip developers with the necessary tools to critically evaluate the potential of identified markets for their products and services and will set the foundations for the development of an appropriate market entry strategy.

Werland, Stefan, Graaf, Lisa, Jacob, Klaus et al. (2014): Nexus Ressourceneffizienz und Energiewende. Eine Analyse der Wechselwirkungen. Berlin. www.ressourcenpolitik.de

As part of its work under the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal, and Marine waters (ETC/ICM), Ecologic Institute supported the European Environment Agency (EEA) in an assessment of public participation processes in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This resulted in a report covering theoretical aspects of public participation as well as an analysis of 8 case studies from across the EU. The report was reviewed by a series of WFD experts from various EU Member States. The article is available for download.

Stelljes, Nico (2014): Kommunale Anpassungsstrategien im Vergleich – Inhaltsanalytische Betrachtung von neun Anpassungsstrategien in Küstenregionen. Berlin. RADOST-Journal Series, Journal No. 31.

Tedsen, Elizabeth et al. 2014: "Marine resource management and coastal livelihoods: an Atlantic perspective". ATLANTIC FUTURE scientific paper, Vol. 15, 66.