On 9 and 10 April 2019, the status conference of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) took place in the Kalkscheune in Berlin. The coordinators of the 20 joint projects funded within the research focus presented their projects and explained first results as well as challenges of their projects. The conference proceedings, presenting the joint projects and cross-cutting topics, are available for download.

On 19 and 20 February 2019, the German Environment Agency (UBA) hosted the international conference "Raw Materials & Environment 2019" in Berlin. More than 25 speakers and about 150 participants – decision makers and experts in the thematic areas of mining, raw material supply, environmental assessment, climate change, sustainable supply chain management, and sustainable resource management – joined the event and discussed in various sessions and working groups different aspects of the topic. The conference aimed at fostering awareness of environmental issues in the national, European and international debates on responsible sourcing and responsible mining. Dr. Camilla Bausch, Director of Ecologic Institute, facilitated the two-day event, which was co-organised by Ecologic Institute.

On Wednesday, 12 December 2018, Ecologic Institute, Energiaklub, and Negawatt hosted a side-event at the COP24 on behalf of the project ClimateRecon 2050 to present specific examples of long-term climate strategies in Europe.

On Friday, 7th of December (11:30 a.m. at the Brazilian Pavilion), Dr. Camilla Bausch, Scientific Director and CEO of Ecologic Institute Europe, will participate in a side-event hosted by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the BRICS Policy Center.

On 10 and 11 October 2018, the AQUACROSS Final Conference on "Ecosystem-Based Management for the Protection of Aquatic Biodiversity – Practice and Lessons Learnt" took place in Brussels. AQUACROSS project team members presented different tools and results regarding aquatic biodiversity protection developed during the project. Conference participants from 21 countries received the eight AQUACROSS Case Studies and the Case Study Gallery with posters, photos and information material with particular interest. The presentations held during the conference are now available on the AQUACROSS project conference website.

What is the best way forward for soil protection in the EU? How can we improve EU policies to secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services? These questions were the focus of the final policy conference of the RECARE project which took place on 27 September 2018 in Brussels. More than 100 participants from 21 countries participated in the conference.

The conference "Impacts of the circular economy transition in Europe" took place in Brussels on 5 September 2018, organised as part of the CIRCULAR IMPACTS project. Around 150 people attended the event, including officials from the European Commission, national ministries, the public sector, industry, and NGOs. Ecologic Institute, as project lead, and the CIRCULAR IMPACTS project partners presented their findings on the impacts of moving towards a more circular economy in Europe, one that uses resources efficiently and maintains the economic value of materials. In addition to discussing their insights regarding the policy frameworks necessary for fostering a resource-efficient economy, team members presented evidence on the impacts and potential benefits of moving towards circular-economy approaches in three sectors: electric-vehicle batteries, car sharing, and building materials.

On 26 June 2018, the International Symposium on Energy Efficiency will bring together leaders from all over the globe as part of the EFEX project to talk about the ways in which energy efficiency has proven to be not only a tool for meeting environmental and sustainability goals and commitments but also an opportunity to increase participation and prosperity in all segments of society. Registration for the conference is open, and you can still get in at the discounted early bird rate. You'll find further information including registration details on the symposium's website.

This conference looked into the innovative bio-based products sector. It presented key insights on the environmental impacts, investment potential and innovative aspects of selected bio-based products.

This final conference will introduce results of four BONUS projects ending in 2018. Novel approaches for managing nutrients, as well as governance approaches for the Baltic Sea region will be presented for discussion. Ecologic Institute will present research results of the BONUS project Soils2Sea. All scientists and stakeholders with a vested interest in sustainable ecosystem-based governance in the Baltic Sea region are invited to join the conference.

At the kick kick-off event for its six thematic working groups, the dialogue forum "Business Mitigates Climate Change" of around 200 leading German companies discussed how they could increase their climate change mitigation efforts and move forward on the way to a low carbon economy. Ecologic Institute organised the conference together with Ernst & Young and Wuppertal Institut.

Over a period of three years the BioSTEP project developed participation tools to involve the public in the development of the European bioeconomy. Different types of participation were sought. During the final conference on 22 February 2018 in Brussels, the participation formats and their possible impact as well as the BioSTEP research recommendations will be presented and discussed. Registrations are possible until 15 February 2018.

On 13 December 2017 the China Emissions Exchange and the European Commission hosted a conference in Shenzhen on emissions trading in China and the EU. The conference was organized by Ecologic Institute. The event brought together experts from the world's largest emissions trading scheme, the EU ETS, and China's future major emissions trading scheme. The conference took stock of what emissions trading in the EU and China have achieved so far and what lessons can be drawn from it. Moreover, the event dealt with how emissions trading can contribute to mastering future climate policy challenges. The presentation slides are available online.

With a big conference in Berlin on the 17 and 18 Oktober 2017, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) launched its new comprehensive research programme "Plastic in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions." In this research programme, 18 research projects with around 100 partners from science, industry, associations and municipalities are exploring the following questions: What is the extent of plastic pollution globally, what are its causes and its effects? For the kickoff, representatives from all collaborative projects met in the "Umweltforum" in Berlin to present the individual projects, identify common challenges and develop cross-cutting themes for an exchange across consortia.

<p>The international "SustEcon Conference – The contribution of a sustainable economy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals" took place on 25 and 26 September 2017 at the Freie Universität in Berlin. It was organised by the project NaWiKo, which coordinates 30 projects doing research on various topics linked to make the economy more sustainable.</p>&#13;