Between 1990 and 2000 alone, more than 800,000 hectares were built on in Europe. This phenomenon is due to changing lifestyles more than increased population. The amount of space consumed per person has more than doubled over the past 50 years. Today, more than a quarter of the EU's territory has been directly affected by urban sprawl, according to a study by the European Environment Agency, which also suggests potential policies to combat the trend. R. Andreas Kraemer, Director Ecologic, was consulted as an external expert throughout the development of the report.

This OECD-report analyses selected public expenditure programmes supporting environmental investments in water supply and sanitation in four OECD countries (Austria, Belgium, France and the German New Länder) with the goal of illustrating a variety of possible institutional arrangements for the management of water sector public expenditure programmes in transition economies.

Kessler, Peter; Michael Mehling; Dora Schaffrin 2006: Assignment: Support the SEPA legislation department in strengthening the legal framework of public interest litigation in China. Berlin.

Nocker, Leo De 2007: Costs and Benefits Associated with the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive, with a Special Focus on Agriculture: Final Report.

Bräuer, Ingo; Rainer Müssner, Katrina Marsden 2006: The Use of Market Incentives to Preserve Biodiversity. Final report for the European Commission. Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany.

Herbke, Nadine; Zbigniew Karaczun; Ruta Landgrebe-Trinkunaite and Thomas Dworak 2006: Deliverable 15 - WFD and Agriculture Linkages at the EU Level – Beyond 2007: Further Research Needs at EU level. Ecologic – Institute for International and European Environmental Policy, Berlin.

The objective of this study was to compare different waste management technologies. The most appropriate technologies were defined, as well as the best ways for their implementation. Furthermore, policy instruments for promotion of these technologies were evaluated.

Kettunen, M. & ten Brink, P. 2006. Value of biodiversity- Documenting EU examples where biodiversity loss has led to the loss of ecosystem services. Final report for the European Commission. Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Brussels, Belgium. 131 pp.

The focus of this brief report is on EU environmental policy and environmentally relevant aspects of EU energy policy. A brief description of the initial situation in both policy areas is followed by examples of possible areas of application of differentiated integration. The first section discusses the potential benefits of differentiated integration in different areas of EU environmental policy, while the second section focuses more on implementation options. For the examples from the EU energy policy, advantages and implementation possibilities are discussed directly one after the other in one section for presentation reasons. The short report is available for download.

Meyer-Ohlendorf, Nils 2006: EU-Enlargement – A Success Story? Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

Mechel, Friederike; Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf; Peter Sprang et al. 2006: Public Procurement and Forest Certification: Assessing the Implications for Policy, Law and International Trade. Comparing major certification schemes: FSC, PEFC, CSA, MTCC and SFI. Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

Interwies, Eduard; Thomas Dworak; Benjamin Görlach and Aaron Best 2006: Deliverable 13 – WFD and Agriculture Linkages at the EU Level – Final Paper about Incentive water pricing and cost recovery in the WFD – Elements for linking EU Agricultural and Water Policies. Ecologic – Institute for International and European Environmental Policy, Berlin.

Müssner, Rainer; Zbigniew Karaczun; Thomas Dworak and Katrina Mardsen 2006: Deliverable 12 – WFD and Agriculture Linkages at the EU Level – Final Report about Cross Compliance and the WFD. Ecologic – Institute for International and European Environmental Policy, Berlin.

Dworak, Thomas; Nadine Herbke; Rainer Müssner et al. 2006: WFD and Agriculture Linkages at the EU Level. Synthesis Report of the 2005-06 Activity of the SSG on "WFD and Agriculture". Berlin.

6 June 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Federal Ministry of Environment. Martin Jaenicke, R. Andreas Kraemer, and Helmut Weidner co-authored a "Critical Congratulation from the Science Community" (in German only) looking at achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of environmental policy in Germany and beyond.