Environmental crime has diverse appearances and impacts. The ecological consequences range from the destruction of forests to the pollution of water, soil, and air and even to species extinction. Moreover, many types of environmental crime also affect human health, and organised forms of environmental crime undermine state structures. Environmental crime is increasingly being discussed again at international and EU level. However, it is always emphasised that there is a lack of a robust database and thus also a gap in the knowledge base.

On 17 May 2018, research partners and stakeholders from the COACCH (CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs) project met in Brussels for the first interactive co-design workshop. Ecologic Institute was responsible for designing the interactive workshop concept and for producing the synthesis of the current knowledge on climate change costs and research gaps, a copy is available for download. The key findings were presented by Ecologic Institute Fellow Jenny Tröltzsch and project partner Paul Watkiss.

Initially developed for the Science Year 2016/*17 – Seas and Oceans of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the funding for the youth campaign "Plastic Pirates" has been extended as part of the BMBF's research focus "Plastic in the Environment". The campaign takes place from 1 May until 30 June 2018 and allows young people between 10 and 16 years old to become scientists and contribute to a large citizen science project. A second period for sampling is envisaged for 15 September until 15 November 2018. We invite all young people to join! For "Plastic Pirates", the PlastikNet team at Ecologic Institute is collaborating with the Kieler Forschungswerkstatt.

On 21 April 2018, the one-day workshop "Narrative Sustainable Management" took place in Berlin. The team of the "Scientific Coordination of Research Projects on a Sustainable Economy" (NaWiKo) had invited interested projects of the funding measure to the workshop. The goal was to come together to consider and test how narratives on a sustainable economy can be identified and used for the projects – and perhaps even find a common "narrative".

On 18 April 2018, at the middle of Bulgaria's presidency of the European Union, a high-level workshop discussed Bulgaria's views on the EU reform process, and the role of climate and energy policies in it. This event is part of a series of workshops on EU reform and its links to climate and energy policies. A summary of the workshop is available.

The 7th workshop of the forum "Fish Protection and Downstream Migration" was dedicated to the topic of improving the implementation of measures at the end of the second cycle of the forum. The workshop took place in Dresden in April 2018. Important to this workshop was the task of creating a summary of the intense discourse that had taken place between all of the stakeholders over the past six years. These discourses were then synthesized into twelve guidelines. The recommendations and results of the event are available for download.

On 17 April 2018, a few month's before Romania's EU presidency, a high-level workshop discussed Rumanian views on the EU reform process, and the role of climate and energy policies in it. This event is part of a series of workshops on EU reform and its links to climate and energy policies. A summary of the workshop is available.

The workshop "Regional Food Systems and Sustainable Land Use in the Rural Urban Nexus" on 11 April 2018 discussed the potential that food systems can play to improve rural urban linkages. The workshop aimed to discuss the available insights at international level about success factors of regional food policies and if these are also relevant in the German context. To do so, the workshop brought together local policy makers, federal policy makers as well as participants from research and civil society. Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute and project leader of the Rural Urban Nexus project, presented success factors known from international examples and studies that promote rural urban linkages through regional food systems.

On 27 March 2018, around 20 social scientists, all involved in a project of the research program "Plastic in the Environment", funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, met to network and discuss future possibilities to increase the visibility of the social and political dimensions of plastics in the environment. The chair for science and technology policy at the Munich Center for Technology in Society organized the meeting together with Ecologic Institute.

Around 50 scientists from twelve collaborative projects of the research focus on plastics in the environment met for a first exchange on sampling, sample preparation and analysis of microplastics at the Water Technology Center (TZW) in Karlsruhe. The workshop, organized by TZW and the Ecologic Institute, aimed to coordinate and learn from each other the many difficulties in identifying and quantifying microplastics from water or soil samples.

The first meeting of think tanks focusing on EU climate policy explored how European climate action can help to address the multiple crises the EU is facing. Supported by the Mercator Foundation, convened by Mercator Senior Fellow R. Andreas Kraemer and hosted by Ecologic Institute, 20 representatives from policy institutes from 10 countries identified windows of opportunity for policy intervention, and explored ways and means for cooperation and coordination in the EU.

The workshop "Car Sharing in Germany" took place on 8 March 2018, hosted in Berlin by Ecologic Institute. In the first part of the workshop experts addressed the current state of affairs of car sharing in Germany, confirming the dynamic nature of the industry and the difficulties involved in assessing its size and effects. In the second portion of the workshop they focused on future developments as well as the importance of policy for a societal transition away from privately owned vehicles. Ecologic Institute co-organized the workshop as part of the CIRCULAR IMPACTS project and in collaboration with Service Innovation Labs.

On 4 December 2017, at the end of Estonia's EU presidency, a high-level workshop discussed Estonian views on the EU reform process, and the role of climate and energy policies in it. This event is part of a series of workshops on EU reform and its links to climate and energy policies. A summary of the workshop is available.

Food Waste policy is affected by a large range of EU policies. EU food waste policy though lacks an integrated approach. Participants see opportunities to go beyond sectoral solutions through an integrated EU Food Policy. Workshop documentation is available for download.