<p>&#13;&#13; Do the National Renewable Energy Action Plans concerning Member States’ goals for 2020 address the long-term restructuring of electricity generation? Do they consider possibilities for European cooperation? The Ecologic Institute examined these questions in its analysis of the German Renewable Energy Action Plan commissioned by the European Green Foundation. Ecologic Institute Senior Fellow Stephan Sina presented the results of this study as a panelist at a discussion hosted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation on 27 October 2010.</p>&#13;&#13;

<p>&#13; Electric vehicles can potentially make significant contributions towards achieving the EU’s climate protection goals in the transport sector. In the context of a stakeholder workshop convened by the DG Environment of the European Commission  in Brussels, Max Grünig, Fellow at Ecologic Institute Berlin, presented a summary of the interactions between the energy sector and electric vehicles.</p>&#13;

<p>While the world waits for an international emissions reduction agreement under the UNFCCC, negotiating governments continue a stalemate on key issues. Historical emissions, population dynamics, and trade may be the missing pieces of the puzzle. Hannam (UNEP-Tongji Institute) and McGlynn (Ecologic Institute) connect these components under one framework for adjusting national emissions reduction responsibilities. To determine how much each nation should reduce emissions, they ask: Who benefits from past, present, and future emissions?</p>&#13;

Climate change requires adaptation measures in multiple areas, including, among others, the energy sector. At a stakeholder workshop, Max Grünig, Fellow at Ecologic Institute Berlin, presented a methodology for assessing costs and benefits of such measures.

<p>&#13; Building from previous work related to technology transfer within the international climate change negotiations, Dominic Marcellino, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave an overview of the current state of the negotiations and needs for diffusion at a conference held by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS).</p>&#13;

<p>Why has Germany become a world leader in developing and installing renewable energy, while the United States was a laggard until recently? For the past few years, Christoph Stefes of the University of Colorado Denver and Ecologic Institute Berlin as well as Frank Laird of the University of Denver have conducted research to answer this question. They have recently presented the results of this research, which received generous funding from the National Science Foundation, at an event of Ecologic Institute Washington, DC.</p><p>

<p>&#13; Climate change threatens the access to essential resources for millions of people. Moreover, climate change directly threatens the lives of people. The conflicts that might result from climate change could escalate into violent conflicts within and between states. In his presentation, Christoph H. Stefes, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, discussed under which circumstances conflicts might turn violent and how the Western community could assist in preventing or solving these conflicts.</p>&#13;

As it implements policy reforms, China needs think tanks to work across traditional divisions of government, contest received wisdom, and produce new ideas.  R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute addressed the importance of environmental think tanks in jointly meeting global challenges at the conference on "Think Tanks in Global Comparison – Modes of Operations" convened by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, on 25 and 26 August 2010.&#13;

<p>&#13; Hessen's State Ministry for Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and its partners held a half-day conference on the themes of emissions trading and climate policy in the USA as part of a year-long series of events. Dominic Marcellino, Fellow, Ecologic Institute Washington, gave a presentation on the current political situation in the United States with respect to climate change.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; Civil society groups are spreading the word on the upcoming 2012 Earth Summit, a United Nations meeting on international environmental governance. Ecologic Institute’s Emily McGlynn stressed the importance of youth participation at a recent UNFCCC side event on preparation for the Earth Summit.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; Tanja Srebotnjak represented Ecologic Institute at the largest gathering of statisticians and practitioners of statistics in North America, the Joint Statistical Meetings, which this year took place in the Olympic City of Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Srebotnjak presented a paper on small area estimation of local health effects and risk factors illustrating her modeling and validation framework for the prevalent lack of health care insurance in the US.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; The 7th Greifswald International Summer Academy "Energy and the Environment" was put on by the University of Greifswald. Dominic Marcellino, Fellow at Ecologic Institute in Washington, spoke to the participants, delivering remarks on some of the ethical implications of expanded renewable energy production, specifically wind.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; "Greening Investment Standards for the Financial Sector" was the subject of a workshop report by R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute to the conference on "Mobilising Private Capital to Reduce Climate Change: Instruments and Policies to Mobilise International Green Energy Investment Berlin".  The conference was hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, an the KFW Entwicklungsbank in Berlin on 29 and 30 June 2010.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; In a Faculty and Expert Seminar, R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute delivered the Keynote Address to an audience of mainly US and Canadian university and college faculty.  The group travelled to Berlin and Brandenburg to study local, regional and national approaches to sustainability.  The Studienform Berlin organised the study tour as part of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge.</p>&#13;