Like environmental policy in general, water policy in particular is subject to constant change. In his article published in the journal Wasser und Abfall (Water and Waste), Peter Kessler describes the shift from an instrumental to an objective-oriented approach. While the water crisis in the Hessisches Ried was still mastered with the instrumental approach, the quality objectives of the German Länder Working Group on Water Issues (LAWA) and the water quality objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) represent the quality objective orientation.

The atmospheric CO2 content, which might increase more than two-fold by the end of the century, not only has an impact on the global climate, but also directly affects the water balance of the terrestrial biosphere. Anna Leipprand and Dr. Dieter Gerten from the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research published an article in the Hydrological Sciences Journal that analyses these impacts.

For the Russian government, the export of oil and gas is not just a good business deal. The gas conflict with Ukraine, with which the Russian leadership announced the new year and its G-8 presidency, showed that the Kremlin’s energy policy is at the core of its foreign policy – one that makes clear old power claims in the post-Soviet realm and beyond. Sascha Müller-Kraenner writes on east-west energy alliances in Kommune 1/2006. The article is available for download.

In Stuttgart on 29 November 2005, Baden-Württemberg‘s Ministry for the Environment held an Information Day on the IPPC Directive’s implementation in Germany and specifically in Baden-Württemberg. It has been concluded that the environmental protection standard in Germany presents a solid basis for compliance with the guidelines of the Directive, and that co-operation between public authorities and businesses is an essential prerequisite for practical implementation. Ulrich Maurer and Alexander Neubauer compiled the event’s findings.

In their article for the Zeitschrift für kommunale Wirtschaft (Magazine for Local Economy), Nadine Herbke, Ecologic Institute, and Dr. Nicole Weiß, Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (Association of Local Businesses) (VKU), present the results of the "Entwicklung lokaler Wasserpartnerschaften" ("Development of Local Water Partnerships") workshop, which took place on 23 November 2005 in Bonn.

On 13 July 2005, the new German energy law entered into force. In their article, Dr. Camilla Bausch and Julia Rufin LL.M. explain the implementation of the European Directives in accelerating the liberalisation of the internal electricity and gas market. Following a description of the previous process of liberalisation at the European and National levels, the introduction of the new regulation of the energy market is discussed and the new rules concerning the de-monopolisation of the energy sector are explained. Furthermore, specific national rules outlining the European requirements are illustrated.

The implementation of the Water Framework Directive is one of the main items in the field of environmental protection. As a main novelty, the Directive foresees the integration of economic aspects into water-related decision making. However, current practice in Germany does not always match the definitions and approaches for economic evaluation developed at EU level, as Benjamin Görlach and Eduard Interwies note in this article "What is the Value of Water? Assessing Environmental and Resource Costs in the Water Framework Directive."

Between 1998 and 2004, Europe suffered more than 100 major flooding events, including the catastrophic floods along the Danube and Elbe rivers in the summer of 2002. In the wake of these events, the European Commission has embarked on the development of a European policy on flood risk management, resulting in a proposal for a floods Directive that was tabled in January 2006. This paper by Thomas Dworak and Benjamin Görlach tracks the development of the European approach to flood risk management and discusses future options for a European policy on floods.

The EC Water Framework Directive mandates that good ecological status should be reached in all water bodies in Europe by 2015. To this end, according to Article 11 of the Directive, programmes of measures shall be established for all river basins. The selection and combination of measures within these programmes should also take account of cost-effectiveness considerations. In an article for the Journal gwf Wasser / Abwasser, Benjamin Görlach, Nicole Kranz and Eduard Interwies present a possible methodology for this selection process, which was developed by Ecologic for the German Federal Environment Agency.

In his article in the "Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht," Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf (Ecologic Institute) analyzes what consequences the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe would have for environmental policy. This treaty was signed in 2004 but did not come into force as it was not ratified. The author focuses on the institutional architecture of the European Union, which would undergo some changes due to the treaty.

In this article, Camilla Bausch and Julia Rufin provide an overview of the content of the German energy law, as adopted by the German Parliament in 2005. The new energy law is based on European Directives. The authors focus their contributing article on the essential new provisions. A description of the future regulation of the energy market is provided, and the new rules concerning the unbundling of the energy sector are exposed. Furthermore, provisions that extend the requirements of European law are described.

The federal bill addressing non-discriminatory network access in the energy sector will significantly reform the existing legal framework for grid operators in Germany. A crucial aspect of the reform is the strengthening of rules for vertically integrated energy companies active in production and distribution, as well as grid operation. In her publication, Dr. Camilla Bausch critically analyses and evaluates unbundling rules for the electricity sector against the background of lawmakers' objectives – including promoting competition, reducing conflict of interest cases and quelling market distorting activities.

In the third issue of the Journal for European Environmental and Planning Law (JEEPL), Nicole Kranz, Benjamin Görlach and Eduard Interwies published an article on the selection of cost-effective combinations of measures according to Article 11 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The article highlights the results of the project "Basic principles for selecting the most cost-effective combinations of measures", conducted by Ecologic in 2003 for the German Federal Environmental Agency.

The National Allocation Plan (NAP) stipulates the rules for the allocation of allowances to the installations participating in emissions trading. The allowances are allocated on the basis of the actual CO2 emissions of the individual installations. To determine the quantity of emissions, data was gathered on a voluntary basis through a comprehensive data enquiry by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. This article reports on the results of the data enquiry.

In this article, Sebastian Oberthür and Thomas Gehring argue that a World Environment Organisation (WEO) does not promise to enhance international environmental governance. The authors claim that the establishment of an international organisation alone in a policy field currently populated by regimes cannot be expected to significantly improve environmental governance because there is no qualitative difference between these two forms of governance institutions. This article does not address in detail or extent upon recent proposals for giving more importance to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) or for upgrading it to a special UN organisation.