Trade

Environmental Policy Gaps in the European Maritime Transport and Port Sectors

TimeLoc

21 May 2012

Antwerp

Belgium

Benjamin Boteler

In May 2012, Benjamin Boteler of Ecologic Institute was invited to present at the international conference "Key Developments in the Port and Maritime Sector" on the latest developments in EU and international environmental policy and their implications for the sector. The conference, held in Antwerp (Belgium) and organised by the World Conference on Transport Research Society - Special Interest Groups 2 Maritime and Ports, brought together a rich mix of academics, industry representatives, and policy makers to present and discuss state-of-the-art scientific developments in the sector.Read more

Publication

Different Options for Communicating Environmental Information for Products

Final Report

Presentation

Speech

Biodiversity

Environmental Law

Dr. Christiane Gerstetter

Ecologic Legal

Intellectual Property Rights and Fighting Poverty

TimeLoc

24 January 2012

Brussels

Belgium

Sebastian Oberthür

Developing countries are the main providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Conversely, most intellectual property rights (IPRs) on seeds and medicines are concentrated in developed countries. The study concludes that this has some disadvantages for developing countries. Thus, patents on seed or pharmaceutical products sometimes make the access to such products for the poor more difficult and expensive; there are hardly any positive effects of IPRs on fighting poverty by contrast. This is the result of a study, presented by Christiane Gerstetter (Ecologic Institute) andRead more

Project

Consumer Policy

Ecologic Legal

Options for Communicating Environmental Information on Products

September 2011 to February 2012

Information on the environmental characteristics of products, such as on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused during their production or their energy efficiency, are essential in order to allow consumers to make informed choices about which products to buy. This project investigated different design options for product-related environmental information addressed at consumers. Ecologic Institute contributed, in particular, an analysis of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) requirements for legal rules on environmental labels. The study is available for download.

The projectRead more

Project

Biodiversity

Environmental Law

Ecologic Legal

Intellectual Property Rights and Fighting Poverty - Study for the European Parliament

July 2011 to December 2011

Developing countries are the main providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Conversely, most intellectual property rights (IPRs) on seeds and medicines are concentrated in developed countries. This has some disadvantages for developing countries. Thus, patents on seed or pharmaceutical products sometimes make the access to such products for the poor more difficult and expensive; there are hardly any positive effects of IPRs on fighting poverty by contrast. This is the result of a study for the European Parliament that Ecologic Institute helped to write. The study and aRead more

Publication

Report

Global Environment

Exploring Trade & the Environment

An Empirical Examination of Trade Openness and National Environmental Performance

This study investigates the prevailing theories about the effect of trade openness on environmental quality and resource management, providing new insights and empirical support to refute some of these theories. It builds on data collected through the Yale-Columbia 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which covers 163 countries and an extensive database of trade-related measures from academic and international sources. Senior fellow Tanja Srebotnjak contributed statistical analyses to the study. It is available for download.Read more

Publication

Report

Agriculture

An Assessment of the Balancing of EU Development Objectives with Other Policies and Priorities

The study "An Assessment of the Balancing of EU Development Objectives with Other Policies and Priorities", to which Ecologic Institutes scientists Christiane Gerstetter and Jenny Kirschey contributed, evaluates the coherence between the EU’s development policies and its other policies. Its authors describe the positive and negative impacts of these policies on development priorities and provide recommendations to achieve better policy coherence. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament and is available for download.Read more

Project

Agriculture

Development Policy and its Coherence with Other Policies - Study for the European Parliament

December 2010 to June 2011

The study "An Assessment of the Balancing of EU Development Objectives with Other Policies and Priorities", to which Ecologic Institute contributed, evaluates the coherence between the EU’s development policies and its other policies. Its authors describe the positive and negative impacts of these policies on development priorities and provide recommendations to achieve better policy coherence. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament and is available for download.

In November 2005, the EU reaffirmed its commitment to promoting policy coherence forRead more

Publication

Report

International Trade Policy in the Context of Climate Change Imperatives

In their policy paper "International Trade Policy in the Context of Climate Change Imperatives" for the Committee on International Trade, Christiane Gerstetter, Michael Mehling und Tanja Srebotnjak examine the relationship between trade and climate change as well as the potential of trade and trade policies to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.Read more

Project

Economics