1. 20th Anniversary of the German Federal Ministry of Environment - Congratulations from Ecologic!
2. European Neighbourhood Policy - Challenges for the Environment and Energy Policy - Ecologic Brief
3. Public Procurement and Forest Certification - Ecologic Brief
4. The Cardoso-Report on civil society involvement in the United Nations' affairs - Publication
5. CO2- Capture and Sequestration- A Political Chance for Coal as Climate Protection? - Climate Talk
6. Water Framework Directive meets Common Agricultural Policy - Opportunities for the future (CAP & WFD) - Policy Briefs published
7. A Transatlantic Comparison on Corporate Responsibility: UN Global Compact Networks in Germany and the U.S. - Essay
8. Urban Water Management: Case Studies Berlin and Emscher region - Lecture

1. 20th Anniversary of the German Federal Ministry of Environment - Congratulations from Ecologic!
6 June 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Federal Ministry of Environment. Martin Jaenicke, R. Andreas Kraemer, and Helmut Weidner co-authored a "Critical Congratulation from the Science Community" (in German only) looking at achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of environmental policy in Germany and beyond.
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2. European Neighbourhood Policy - Challenges for the Environment and Energy Policy - Ecologic Brief
By way of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and following the enlargement process of 2004, the EU would like to redefine its own geopolitical interests and relationship to the new neighbours. Furthermore, the new neighbouring countries of the EU should receive an offer  to co-operate and build a privileged relationship with the EU. This Ecologic Brief is a revised edition of the German issue, May 2005. It is available for download.
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3. Public Procurement and Forest Certification - Ecologic Brief
The use of public procurement policy to achieve sustainable development objectives has increased steadily over the past decade. Amongst the various "green procurement" initiatives, forestry is a sector which received much attention. However, unlike areas such as product safety or energy efficiency, the use of public procurement to enhance sustainable forest management (SFM) is extremely complex - largely because the elements of SFM are broad ranging, variable, and to some extent controversial. Against this background, this Ecologic Brief analyses the linkages between public procurement and forest certification. The Ecologic Brief is available for download.
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4. The Cardoso-Report on civil society involvement in the United Nations' affairs - Publication
The United Nations (UN) are in a crisis not least because of their lack of democratic legitimacy: too many of the member countries are non-democratic, and internal procedures in the UN are unnecessarily closed to public debate and scrutiny. A panel of eminent experts led by Fernando Enrique Cardoso made proposals for reform. In a contribution to a book on the rule of international law in a globalised world, R. Andreas Kraemer assesses the panel's proposals.
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5. CO2- Capture and Sequestration- A Political Chance for Coal as Climate Protection? - Climate Talk
The main cause of global climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal. The future climate policy will encounter major challenges from an expected substantial buildup of coal fired power plants, resulting from security of supply and production cost reasons. Some experts hope for a clean solution to this problem by turning to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The Climate Talk on 24 May 2006 focused on the questionsof whether climate policy can reconcile itself with coal fired energy production by using CCS and what kind of problems and challenges can be expected from this new technology.
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6. Water Framework Directive meets Common Agricultural Policy - Opportunities for the future (CAP & WFD) - Policy Briefs published
The policy briefs on "Cross Compliance and the WFD", "Incentive water pricing and cost recovery in the WFD" and "Co-operation and participation at the interface of EU Agricultural and Water Policies" have been published and can be downloaded. They result from a project analysing the legal and organisational interlinkages between the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the EU in order to identify opportunities for synergies in the future implementation, planning, financing and controlling of both policy requirements.
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7. A Transatlantic Comparison on Corporate Responsibility: UN Global Compact Networks in Germany and the U.S. - Essay
The UN Global Compact is one of the most prominent initatives promoting the concept of corporate responsibility on a worldwide-scale, boasting more than 2,000 participating business, which subscribe to ten common principles in the areas of environmental protection, human and labor rights and anti-corruption. Nevertheless, considerable differences exist with regards to how the initiative is received across the world, and particularly when compared across the Atlantic. During her residency at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies/Johns Hopkins University, Ecologic Fellow Nicole Kranz examined the approaches in Germany and the US in creating networks to expand the reach of the UN Global Compact, as well as their implications and effectiveness.
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8. Urban Water Management: Case Studies Berlin and Emscher region - Lecture
The Università Luigi Bocconi organised a conference on behalf of the Milan municipality to analyse Milan's wastewater treatment system as regards sustainability issues, organisational models and future challenges. The conference took place on 4 May 2006. Researchers from around Europe presented five case studies on European experience with wastewater management in urban areas. Ecologic Fellow Nadine Herbke presented the results of the Berlin and Emscher case studies.
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