The first study tour of the 2015-2016 ELEEP Fellowship Class took place from 21 until 25 September 2015. On the study tour 15 ELEEP members visited Denmark and Germany to explore both opportunities and challenges of the European Energy Transition.

On 21 September 2015, Dr. Eleftheria Kampa, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, gave a lecture on EU water and river basin management policy at the Potsdam Summer School on Facing Natural Hazards (14 - 23 September 2015). The presentation slides are available for download.

The second webinar in our POLIMP Webinar Series took place on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 from 16:00 until 17:00 CEST. The webinar featured a discussion on the topic: "Reform of the EU ETS: Making it fit for 2030" feature guest speakers Anja Kollmuss (CAN Europe) and Andrei Marcu (CEPS).

In the "Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations," a group of high-level lawyers and philosophers addresses obligations of States and enterprises to avert the critical level of climate change – irrespective of already existing obligations resulting from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or a (potential) follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The group argues that existing legal sources including human rights law, environmental law and tort law oblige states to take measures leading to drastic emissions reductions that ensure that the global temperature increase does not exceed pre-industrial temperatures by more than 2°C.

On 15 September 2015, the POLIMP project consortium will host its final expert workshop at Ecologic Institute in Berlin (Germany). The one day workshop will focus on low-carbon technology support policies in the EU, with special attention given to financing, public acceptance and emissions trading. Each of these will feature introductory input from the project, contrasted with an external policy expert perspective (from research, government and business) to start conversation among participants. The presentations and discussion will be augmented by the perspectives of up to 40 external experts working in research, government and business.

The third expert workshop of the discussion series "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond" dealt with the topic "Conditional INDCs – A new and unknown element of the Paris-System." The event took place on 9 September 2015 in Berlin.

The Canadian province of Alberta is well-known for being the home of the country’s current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and the infamous tar sands. The traditionally conservative province has been criticized for its contribution to climate change. Binnu Jeyakumar, Consulting Advisor at Pembina Institute, led a discussion on this topic at Ecologic Institute. The seminar focused on the current political change in Alberta and its implications for the province’s involvement in the fight against climate change.

Ecologic Institute would like to issue a warm welcome to our newest Shareholder, Willem van Rijn.
 Willem van Rijn added his expertise to the Ecologic Institute Board of Shareholders in 2015. He brings with him a wealth of experience in international finance and consulting as well as a well-honed background in strategy and risk management. Willem van Rijn is currently active as an investor, advisor and board member at various institutions.

On 7 July 2015, the POLIMP Webinar Series officially kicked off with a discussion on the topic: "Paris 2015: Lessons from the Copenhagen Experience. The webinar featured guest speakers Prof. Dr. Sebastian Oberthür (IES) and Wytze van der Gaast, PhD (JIN).

Using a combination of web-based tools, the POLIMP project imparts expert knowledge on international climate negotiations and EU climate policy. Through the distribution of regular surveys to POLIMP's "Expert Response Group," opinions on key topics and recent developments in international climate negotiations are identified. The survey results are then shared in the POLIMP live webinar series.

After almost two years of work led by Ecologic Institute on the project NETwork for GREEN Economy Indicators (NETGREEN), the initiative's main output was unveiled: a database for Green Economy indicators. Actually, this product was a multifunctional tool rather than a simple database. The tool helped to identify and understand the best indicators to measure progress towards the green economy. Therefore, it was useful for policy-makers and people trying to influence them. This initiative was of significant interest for the Directorate-General for Environment, as can be seen in an interview with the NETGREEN project team. The interview is available online.

The Arctic Summer College is proud to have recently completed its fifth successful year. From 25 June to 13 August 13, the 20 selected Arctic Summer College Fellows participated in eight webinars on various topics relevant to the Arctic, including Indigenous Actors and Arctic Decision-making, Arctic Energy and Climate Change Adaptation. Fellows became part of a network of emerging Arctic leaders from different disciplines and regions and were able to share and discuss ideas with expert speakers.

The second expert workshop of the discussion series “Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond” dealt with the topic “National mitigation commitments and MRV – The political relevance of technical rules”. The event took place on 23 June 2015in Berlin.

In the debates about the new climate and energy framework for 2030 and the proposed Energy Union, the European Commission and the Council call for increased regional cooperation between Member States. In addition to strengthening the internal market, this cooperation is meant to facilitate the implementation of the EU 2030 energy efficiency and renewable targets. Both are defined for the Union as a whole, but not for single Memeber States. On 17 June 2015, Katharina Umpfenbach presented the working paper "Regional cooperation in the context of the new 2030 energy governance" in Berlin that takes a closer look at the existing landscape of regional institutions in the European electricity sector to explore their potential contribution to an effective furture governance framework. The presentation is available for download.

Three leading Australian journalists participated in a study tour on "Climate and Energy Policy in Germany" in Berlin, from 13 until 18 June 2015. Ecologic Institute designed and organised the tour on behalf of the Foreign Office.