Impact Assessment is an essential process in the world of policy-making. At the EU level, it is a requirement for every new policy project. UBA led a study to analyze the consideration for environmental impacts in these studies and whether there were lessons to learn for Germany. Ecologic Institute collaborated with Zurich-based INFRAS to scrutinize a sample of IAs published by the European Commission and analyze emerging trends. UBA and the consulting team then organized a workshop in Brussels to discuss their findings with representants of European Institutions (DG Environment, European Policy Research Service, Joint Research Center, etc.) and international IA experts. The presentation slides by Ecologic Institute and INFRAS are available for download.

The BioSTEP policy workshop focuses on local and regional businesses and their role in the regional bioeconomy. It explores a broader model of the bioeconomy (bottom-up, participatory) and discusses how small and medium-sized enterprises, civil-society organisations and further relevant actors can be engaged in the (further) development of a regional bioeconomy strategy in Scotland.

<p>The sixth workshop of the Forum was marked by the beginning of the 2nd management cycle of the Water Framework Directive. At the event, the results of the first management cycle with regard to the status of the fish fauna and the envisaged measures to improve this quality element were reflected. In this context, the assessment methods for the fish fauna in surface water bodies and the passability of barriers and the resulting measures were considered.</p>&#13;&#13;

On 13 September 2016, the expert workshop "Discussion of an assessment system for civil society initiatives to measure sustainability and transformative potential" took place in Berlin. At the workshop, about 30 participants from science, policy, foundations, and sustainability initiatives discussed the first draft of a criteria catalogue for measuring and presenting the societal benefit of niche sustainability initiatives, especially their sustainability and transformative potential. Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the assessment system. In the workshop, the application of the criteria catalogue to two case studies was also presented. The criteria for estimating the sustainability potential, the transformative potential, the organizational capacity for action, and the scalability of the initiatives were developed from 13 political and scientific assessment systems and from transition literature.

In implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Germany has to deal with a range of new challenges. Achieving goals in land and soil protection, for example, cannot build on a long tradition of policymaking or on a solid basis of information and data for monitoring. An expert workshop together with the Federal Agency of Environment (UBA) and Federal Ministry of Environment (BMUB) on 6 July 2016 in Berlin sought to clarify how Germany can achieve "land degradation neutrality" domestically. Stephanie Wunder from Ecologic Institute presented results from a report, which served as the basis for intensive discussions among the participants.

In the last few years, transformation research has gained increasing attention as means of studying socio-ecological crises and radical change towards sustainability. Especially the transformative research mode, through which research actively engages in societal change processes, is intensely debated. This workshop, organized by DRIFT with support from Ecologic Institute, aimed at self-reflection on empirical and theoretical foci, frameworks and suitable research methods in transformation research. The workshop report is available for download.

Concluding four years of interdisciplinary collaboration and research the BASE project brought together representatives working on climate adaptation policy at EU and Member State level, as well as local practitioners for an interactive day on climate change adaptation in Brussels. The main focus of the workshop was a series of policy observations that emerged from research in the BASE project. As a result another policy recommendation was developed which is available for download.

The EU research project "Bottom-Up Climate Adaptation Strategies for a Sustainable Europe" (BASE) recently announced the "Interactive Policy Workshop: Implementing the EU Adaptation Strategy - Practical insights and policy recommendations" to be held in Brussels (Belgium) on 9 June 2016. The aim of this workshop is to bring together stakeholders to share experiences of adaptation to climate change in policy and practice from across Europe. Stakeholder inputs will shape a series of recommendations that will be fed into the review of the EU Adaptation Strategy in 2017. Participation in this interactive workshop is free of charge. Please register now!

The workshop "Rostock 2050 - Measures for a post-carbon city, was the fourth and final workshop held in Rostock as part of the project Post-Carbon Cities in Europe: A Long-Term Outlook (POCACITO). In this workshop, the results of the modelling excercise undertaken by the POCACITO team were presented to and discussed with the stakeholders of the participation process in Rostock. The modellers had quantified the decided-upon measures and the ambitious measures of the post-carbon vision elaborated in the previous workshops. The results were presented in a "business-as-usual 2050" and a "post-carbon 2050" scenario. Learing from these results the participants dicussed the gaps remaining on the trajectory to a post-carbon future and which areas should be prioritized to be successful. Furthermore, a focus was on the question, how the EU or the national level could help the city of Rostock to reach its post-carbon goals.

As part of the Leverhulme Trust funded project on IWRM and climate change adaptation, two workshops were held in May 2016 in Dhaka and Khulna to draw lessons from the Bangladesh experience and share experiences from other national contexts. Dr. Josselin Rouillard from Ecologic Institute presented the results of his research on IWRM and public participation in France.

On Saturday, 23 April 2016, 15 children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 17 from different parts of the Ahrensfelde municipality met to participate in a creative workshop. The goal was to create a vision of how their community should develop sustainably until 2030. The day-long workshop was organized by Ecologic Institute in cooperation with the Hochschule Eberswalde, the youth coordinator of the community and the municipality.

The aim of this workshop is to identify and discuss challenges, opportunities, and policy gaps surrounding the development of bioeconomy strategies across Europe. The outcome of this process will be a list of targeted policy recommendations for the (further) development of balanced and informed bioeconomy strategies at the regional, national and European level.

Climate change and other pressures are impacting the environment and water resources in the Mediterranean, requiring plans for how to adapt the management of affected river basins and their water resources to changing future conditions. To address this challenge, a series of workshops organized by Ecologic Institute and local case study partners (CREAF, CyI, INRGREF and IzVRS) were held in March and April 2016 across the Mediterranean as part of the EU-funded BeWater project to gain stakeholder input for further developing tailored river basin adaptation plans.

As part of the "Green Finance – Strategies and Instruments for Financing the Ecological Modernisation Process" project, the Federal Environment Agency organized a workshop to discuss initial research findings on the financing requirements for a green transformation in Germany on 3 March 2016 in Berlin.

On 28 January 2016, Policy makers, negotiators and stakeholders discussed the implications of the Paris Agreement for climate policy with 120 participants from ministries, academia, business and civil society. It was the final event of a a series of events organised and papers written by Ecologic Institute for the German Federal Environment Agency, entitled "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond".