1. Urban environment and environmental techonologies - Discussion Paper
2. The adequacy of EU action on flood protection, focusing on the Commission’s recent proposal - Publication
3. The new National Allocation Plans (NAPs) - Lessons learned? - Climate Talk
4. Waste reduction and recycling through extended producer responsibility - Study online
5. The European Union as an Agent for Sustainable and Peaceful Development – Publication
6. Selecting Cost-effective Measures under the EU Water Framework Directive - The Issue of Scale - Publication

1. Urban environment and environmental techonologies - Discussion Paper
For the preparations of the informal Council of Environmental Ministers under the Austrian EU presidency, Ecologic contributed to a discussion paper on the urban environment and environmental technologies. The paper discusses in particular the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment of the European Commmission and the potential for the use of environmental technologies in cities.
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2. The adequacy of EU action on flood protection, focusing on the Commission’s recent proposal - Publication
With flooding in central Europe once more headline news this spring and the loss of at least twelve lives across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia, the proposal for a new Floods Directive from the European Commission in January 2006 seems like a timely intervention. Ecologic, together with IEEP, has produced a preliminary assessment of the Flood Directive proposed by the European Commission. It is intended as a policy briefing to help inform members of the European Parliament about the issues involved when discussing the proposal.
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3. The new National Allocation Plans (NAPs) - Lessons learned? - Climate Talk
EU Member States have until the end of June 2006 to submit their National Allocation Plans (NAPs) to the European Commission. Currently, the Member States are hurriedly preparing their respective Plans. Again, as with the preparation of the first NAPs, some fundamental questions are raised, for example regarding allocation methods for emissions certificates, the emission caps, and the installations covered by the Scheme. The Climate Talk on 11 April 2006, focused on determining what regulations and which changes can be expected in comparison to the first NAPs, and where this will lead.
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4. Waste reduction and recycling through extended producer responsibility - Study online
In order to support the Austrian Federal Ministry for the Environment in the development of a waste reduction and recycling strategy for the Austrian Waste Management Plan 2006, Ecologic completed the study “Waste Avoidance and Recycling on the Basis of Producer Responsibility”. The study features a detailed analysis of extended producer responsibility as a policy instrument for waste-reduction and increased recycling in Austria. The focus is on the characteristics of successful extended producer responsibility programmes and the preconditions necessary for their successful implementation. The study also investigates economic, technical, social and juridical aspects of the policy instrument. The study is now available for download.
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5. The European Union as an Agent for Sustainable and Peaceful Development - Publication
Christoph Bail argues in this publication that for the first time in European history, European integration has led  to a more peaceful, economically successful, socially balanced and ecologically responsible development. However, since the end of the Cold War, the integration process has been pushed to its limits and requires new governance structures and orientations.
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6. Selecting Cost-effective Measures under the EU Water Framework Directive - The Issue of Scale - Publication
First methodological ideas on how to proceed with the cost-effectiveness analysis under the EU Water Framework Directive have already been developed by a number of European Member States. Yet, important methodological challenges remain, in particular with regard to a scale adapted procedure. This paper takes up the current debate and develops ideas on how to address the problem of interlinking bottom-up and top-down approaches for the selection of cost-effective sets of measures under the Directive.
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