<p>The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the upcoming climate negotiations and global trends in the energy sector – these topics were discussed during a panel discussion on "Current Challenges in Climate and Energy Policy" at the Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

The infographic visualizes the structure and interaction of the rating categories for assessing the potential for transformation of sustainability initiatives, as developed in the project "From Niche to Mainstream - How to Spread Sustainable Practices";. The evaluation system pursues the aims of initiatives, social innovations, sustainability innovations etc. to their potential for transformation and their sustainability effects, and to evaluate them, depending on the application context.

<p>On 30 June 2017, the Federal Environment Minister Dr. Barbara Hendricks kicked off the Dialogue Forum "Wirtschaft macht Klimaschutz" ("Business Mitigates Climate Protection"). More than 130 participants from companies from all economic sectors met to discuss the development of joint strategies and practical implementation measures for enabling climate protection. The Federal Environment Minister's speech, as well as presentations and photos from the conference are available online.</p>&#13;&#13;

The text book on "Regions and Regionalism in the International Relations" offers a theoretical and conceptual overview as well as comparative insights into a range of regional regulatory models, norms and institutions in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In a new publication, Arne Riedel, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, outlines the actors and cooperative efforts in the Arctic region and discusses actual regulatory developments, new actors as well as new political challenges.

In 2050 nine billion people will live on Earth. Already now with only seven billion people to feed, the distribution of resources is unequal and the global food system is not sustainable. With the World Food Convention, the German newspaper Tagesspiegel organized an international high level event on 22 June 2017 in Berlin. 500 participants from policy, industry, diplomacy, NGOs as well as science and academia discussed the most pressing issues of global food production and distribution. The Ecologic Institute was a partner of the World Food Convention. Ecologic Institute's Senior Fellow Stephanie Wunder spoke in the panel "Human Eating Behaviour".

The third Science Sips event event once again offered the opportunity to discuss mare topics together with by-catch curry or seaweed cocktails. At the event on 21 June 2017, three short presentations on the subject of biodiversity of the oceans were presented. Additionally, the winners of the recipe contest "Klug gefischt/Smart fishing" were honored during this event.

<p>On 1 June 2017, Ecologic Institute hosted a Dinner Dialogue on the EU Climate and Energy Policy 2030 featuring guest speakers Artur Runge-Metzger (European Commission, DG CLIMA), Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf (Ecologic Institut) und Franziska Erdle (WV Metalle). Franzjosef Schafhausen moderated the discussion. The 22 participants discussed how the EU crisis and concerns around a loss of democracy impact the future of EU climate and energy policy.</p>

<p>The Special Theme Day "Taste of the Future of the Seas" on 21 May 2017 will offer a number of activities on the topics of seas and oceans and sustainable consumption for all age groups.</p>&#13;

<p>The conference was in line with the thematic approach of the Forum, but took also into account the need for professional development. The conference focused on presenting and discussing current research and development projects from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.</p>&#13;&#13;

At a time where climate change is already causing migration, the anticipated increase of numbers has gained in focus in international debates. Dr. Camilla Bausch moderated a roundtable discussion on related upcoming issues at the Mercator Foundation Roundtable on Climate Migration. The Roundtable accompanied the publication of the German version of the "Atlas of Environmental Migration."

Ever tried oysters from a natural heritage site, or discussed plastics pollution of the oceans while sipping seaweed cocktails? Participants at the second Science Sips event got to experience exactly that on 28 April 2017 while sitting across the impressive dinosaur fossils exhibited at the Berlin Museum for Natural History.

The EU is discussing how to reform its energy and climate policy for the period after 2020. The short study "Energiewende as a European project" looks at the negotiations on the Clean Energy package from a German perspective. It shows the enormous opportunities of the European internal market. A more developed cross-border electricity market in the EU will make it much cheaper to make the German Energiewende a reality. Yet, to go further and define a joint project for an EU-wide energy transition will require additional efforts to develop concrete objectives and implementation steps together with the other Member States.

Ever tried bycatch curry, or discussed ocean sustainability while sipping seaweed cocktails? Participants of the first Science Sips event got to experience exactly that on 30 March 2017 while sitting across the impressive dinosaur fossils exhibited at the Berlin Museum for Natural History.

<p>Despite extensive discussions, no agreement has been found regarding a common soil indicator for measuring Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in Germany. Major obstacles include low data availability and the effort needed to measure physical soil conditions regularly. During an expert workshop on 27 March 2017 in Berlin, a new and simpler approach, developed by Ecologic Institute in cooperation with the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), was discussed to determine its suitability for LDN. The core idea of the approach is to measure land use and land use change, directly referring to soil quality in the sense of LDN. The workshop minutes are available for download.</p>&#13;