U.S. Ecologic Institute Aims to Enrich Dialogue on Transatlantic Policies in Energy, Climate and Environment.

WASHINGTON DC / BERLIN (20 April 2009): Ecologic Institute, one of Europe’s premier environmental not-for-profit think tanks, formally launches its first office in North America on Earth Day, 22 April 2009. The Washington DC office will focus initially on transatlantic relations, energy and climate, EU integration and the environment, and water services and investment.

 “The challenges of climate change and renewable energy have assumed a central role on the transatlantic agenda,” said R. Andreas Kraemer, Director and CEO, Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany. “Establishing the Washington DC office as part of our Transatlantic Program will allow Ecologic to contribute to facilitating international policy processes related to these issues.”

Ecologic Institute was founded in 1995 in Berlin, with additional offices now in Brussels and Vienna. A partner of the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Ecologic provides research and advice to the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Environment Agency as well as to related institutions in EU Member States and the public.

The Transatlantic Program of Ecologic Institute is designed to strengthen transatlantic relations in the field of environmental policy and to help integrate environmental concerns into other areas of policy, including foreign relations and trade.

As part of the launch of the Washington DC office, Ecologic is holding a weeklong series of transatlantic environmental policy seminars in Washington DC on 20-27 April 2009. Partners for the events include U.S. programs of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation as well as the U.S. non-profit the Environmental Defense Fund.

The U.S. launch of the Konrad von Moltke Fund, to support international exchanges for young environmental law researchers, will take place on Earth Day to commemorate a pioneer in building transatlantic partnerships for international sustainable development.

Michael Mehling, a senior environmental lawyer and European policy analyst at Ecologic, has been named President of the Washington Ecologic Institute. New offices are located at 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20009.

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Contact: Michael Mehling, President Ecologic Institute, Washington DC
Tel: +1 (202) 518-2060