Report | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

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Nach der Bundestagswahl: Worauf es für die deutsche Politik beim Energiepaket der EU ankommt

The EU is currently negotiating a comprehensive reorientation of energy and climate policy for the decade 2020-2030. In this strategy brief, Katharina Umpfenbach discusses how the next German federal government can shape the EU negotiations so as to create an EU electricity market regulation that is conducive to the German energy transition. Four central elements are identified: raising the ambition of energy targets and introducing long-term targets, developing effective oversight instruments to ensure compliance, adjusting the electricity market to the needs of wind and solar power, and initiating an exit strategy for coal firing. The strategy brief is available for download.Read more

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Extending Land Footprints Towards Characterizing Sustainability of Land Use

This report discusses extensions of area-based land foot-prints with meaningful impact-oriented indicators for the assessment of the effects of different con-sumption patterns on the ecosystems and sustainability of land use. First, existing indicators for representing the environmental impacts of land use are introduced in the context of their linkages and complementarity to area-based land footprints. The report discusses the following key indicators, which were identified as particularly relevant during an export workshop: System indicators, which qualify the area-based footprints across globally very different potential land productivities, deforestation footprint, energy use in agriculture, and irrigation water use in agriculture classified by degree of water scarcity. It introduces the methods developed for the quantification of system indicators for cropland and grassland footprints and for the deforestation footprint, and present results for Germany and the EU.Read more

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Introduction to the RISC-KIT Web Based Management Guide for DRR in European Coastal Zones

This paper presents a new approach to guiding coastal stakeholders about making informed decisions about Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures and alternatives. As part of the RISC-KIT project and tool box, the paper presents a holistic DRR measure approach including the biophysical environment, governance aspects and practical examples from coastal areas in Europe and elsewhere. The guide is addressed to a wide variety of coastal stakeholders with a different level of knowledge about DRR measures with the aim to provide guidance and information. The paper gives an overview of the overall...Read more

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The Enforcement of Consumer Rights in Trade Agreements

Cross-border trade and the rules governing it impact consumers. Trade has benefits for consumers, such as access to goods not available domestically. Yet it also has certain risks, such as exposure to traded goods that may be dangerous. Against this background, consumer organisations on both sides of the Atlantic have been discussing what a consumer-friendly trade policy could look like. Christiane Gerstetter and Lena Donat of Ecologic Institute's Legal Team have compiled a study examining what complaint mechanisms for consumer organisations concerning international trade agreements could look like. Read more

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Welchen Beitrag leisten die europäischen CO₂-Flottengrenzwerte für Pkw zum Klimaschutz?

In the frame of this project a short study on the policy instrument of specific CO2-emission targets for car manufacturers in the EU is carried out which analyses and evaluates the policy instrument. The foci of the research are two questions: How did the instrument perform regarding the reductions of specific CO2-emissions of passenger cars? And how much can it contribute to reduce overall CO2-emissions of passenger transport in the EU, so as to contribute to reaching the target of the Paris agreement to stay below a warming of 2°C? The short study is available for download.Read more

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WWF Arctic Council Conservation Scorecard

Assessment Report

How can we improve policy monitoring of national implementation to further protect the Arctic environment and its inhabitants? With the WWF Arctic Council Scorecards, Ecologic Institute and WWF International Arctic Programme undertook the effort to provide a first overview of the implementation status of specific recommendations by the Arctic Council with a particular focus on maritime activities, climate change and biodiversity protection as well as ecosystem-based management.

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Proposals for New Governance Concepts and Policy Options

Stelljes, N, Albrecht, S, Martinez, G., McGlade, K. BONUS SOILS2SEA Deliverable 6.2. Proposals for new governance concepts and policy options. Ecologic Institute, Berlin, May 2017, www.Soils2Sea.eu Read more

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Report

Adaptation

Climate

Market Scoping Report

Deliverable 6.1. H2020 Research Project "Bridging the Gap for Innovations in Disaster Resilience (BRIGAID)

This report describes the work undertaken in the BRIGAID market scoping exercise at the European scale. Its aim is to help the BRIGAID innovators to identify those regions within Europe where potential business opportunities could emerge based on an analysis of the current and expected impacts of climate change and the current adaptive capacity at the regional level. The market scoping should facilitate the identification of markets that have a high potential of adopting innovative climate change adaptation measures whilst also differentiating between the specific hazards that BRIGAID innovations address.Read more

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Report

Energy

Die Energiewende als europäisches Projekt

Chancen, Reibungspunkte, Handlungsoptionen

The EU is discussing how to reform its energy and climate policy for the period after 2020. The short study "Energiewende as a European project" looks at the negotiations on the Clean Energy package from a German perspective. It shows the enormous opportunities of the European internal market. A more developed cross-border electricity market in the EU will make it much cheaper to make the German Energiewende a reality. Yet, to go further and define a joint project for an EU-wide energy transition will require additional efforts to develop concrete objectives and implementation steps together with the other Member States.

Publication

RISC-KIT Synthesis Report

This Synthesis Report provides an overview of the achievements, lessons learned and challenges identified through the RISC-KIT project activities, including the development and application of the tools at ten case study sites in a range of coastal regions across Europe. The lessons learned are then fed into a series of recommendations for improved DRR for Europe and beyond. The resulting insights and accompanying recommendations have been considered in relation to their relevance to EU and international processes that both directly and indirectly address coastal DRR. The RISC-KIT Synthesis Report is available for download.