<p>At an Ecologic Dinner Dialogue in Brussels on 24 April 2008, Jamie Shea and Helga Schmid discussed the role for the EU and NATO in responding to threats arising from climate change. Jamie Shea is Head of Policy Planning at NATO. Helga Schmid is Policy Unit Director at the EU Council Secretariat. Both agreed on the importance of the issue. While it is already on the agenda and reflected in various EU documents, Jamie Shea laid out reasons why it is not yet at NATO’s agenda and made recommendations that could help change the current situation.</p>&#13;

An Ecologic Dinner Dialogue took place on the eve and in anticipation of the 3rd ETTAR (Environmental Technologies, Training and Awareness Raising) Workshop dealing with training and awareness-raising needs to improve the environmental performance of freight transport. Sebastian Bäckström (WSP, Sweden) shared his personal views about the need for more sustainable transport featuring low emissions and prices reflecting the environmental impact. Mr. Bäckström's starting point was that "something is wrong" in the organisation of current transport systems and transport patterns.

On 27 February 2008, an Ecologic Dinner Dialogue was held in honour of Suedeen Kelly, Commissioner at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In her initial remarks, Suedeen Kelly pointed out that many electric utilities in the United States are indeed aware of the potential new grid technologies have – the “fairy kiss” by information technology seems to be happening. However, the deployment of smart grids is not going to happen on its own.

On 25 February 2008, an Ecologic Dinner Dialogue was held in Berlin in honour of Mark Halle, European Director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) as well as Global Director of Trade &amp; Investment. Mark Halle introduced key aspects of the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in international environmental governance (IEG). He pointed out that environmental issues for governments often come second, leaving NGOs as important actors in the field of IEG.  The decisive question of how to move environmental issues to the centre of political decision making still needs to be tackled.

On 28 November 2007, an Ecologic Transatlantic Riverside Chat brought together Dr. J. Morgan Williams and Jay Benforado to share and discuss perspectives on European policies regarding renewable energy and innovative approaches towards sustainability. The speakers highlighted the strength of European and German positive attitudes towards renewable energy, while stressing the continuous challenge the transition towards a sustainable energy system still imposes. Opportunities and challenges for innovation and leadership were the recurring central themes of the discussion, which took place between policy makers and representatives from think tanks, business, NGOs and Academia.

On 11 October 2007, a transatlantic Ecologic Dinner Dialogue was held in Berlin to celebrate the launch of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) first European office and to discuss EU and US policies on biodiversity and climate change. The guest of honor, Rebecca Patton, Chief Conservation Strategies Officer for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), was joined by her colleagues Sascha Müller-Kraenner, the new European Representative as well as Roberto Troya, Director of International Government Relations and Andreas Lehnhoff, Director for the Mesoamerica &amp; Caribbean for the Conservancy. The keynote speaker was Miranda Schreurs, Professor at the Free University in Berlin, who is an expert in transatlantic environmental policy.

The Washington Post called Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as "the guru of the environmental movement." While visiting Germany in order to launch the German edition of his book "Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble", he gave a talk in Berlin on 22 January 2007.

<img alt="Jonathan Wiener" hspace="4" src="Download/dinner_dialogue/2006/wiener_80_80.jpg" align="right" vspace="4" border="0" />The Transatlantic Climate Dinner in honour of Dr. Jonathan B. Wiener focused on the question of how national interests can be engaged to establish a comprehensive and effective international climate change regime. The dinner's discussion showed that a future system can only be ecologically effective and economically efficient if all major emitting countries participate and show a common effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, Dr. Wiener made clear that major constraints of the current system must be overcome to achieve this.

The implications of rising oil prices and the effects of climate change for growth in Germany were the topic of the Dinner Dialogue in honour of Dennis Meadows, co-author of "Limits To Growth". The 30 year update of the 1972 best seller has been the staring point for the discussion taking place in Berlin on 3 April 2006.

The US energy and climate policy – particularly political dynamics at the sub-national level – was the topic of the Transatlantic Climate Dinner in honour of Jim Marzilli.  Since 1990, Marzilli has been campaigning for environmental- and energy-sector reforms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Against the backdrop of increasingly dynamic climate and energy policy debates, the participants discussed the potential for reforms as well as possible hurdles at the city and state levels.  The Transatlantic Climate Dinner took place on March 16, 2006 in Berlin.

The US energy and climate policy was the topic of the Transatlantic Climate Dinner in honour of Dr. Susan F. Tierney, Managing Principal at Analysis Group, Boston. Against the backdrop of the new US Energy Policy Act, participants at the event discussed, trends and developments in the field of energy policy in the US and in Europe with a focus on climate and security related questions. This Transatlantic Climate Dinner took place on 20 February 2006 in Berlin.