This project supports the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) with the continuation of its activities in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. Activities are centred around a stakeholder workshop, which will offer a forum for the discussion of current approaches as well as future steps. The interactive concepts brings together representatives from the business community as well as civil society in Berlin in September 2007. The project consortium not only provides conceptual advice to the Council but is also responsible for innovative facilitation methods at the event as well as all organisational matters.

For a sustainable development within the EU all social costs of economic activities have to be considered. The integrated project EXIOPOL aims to assess these costs, which include environmental impacts, for the EU-25 and will depict them in an environmentally extended input-output framework. The results of the assessment and the accounting framework will be applied to important policy issues and will help to assess the policy impact of past research.

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The supply of safe drinking water, protection against floods and droughts, and the resolution of conflicts between competing water users in the case of resource scarcity, are among the main aims of development co-operation in the water sector. The impacts of climate change will make it even more challenging to achieve these objectives in many world regions, by putting additional pressures on water resources. This desk study for the German development co-operation (GTZ) evaluates scientific evidence for climate change impacts and potential options for adaptation in water management in Africa, and derives recommendations for meeting these challenges.

The Yearbook Ecology 2008 will be published at the end of September 2007. Ecologic is one of the institutes supporting this yearbook. This year's focus is on the effects of climate change, learning from nature, culture and lifestyle as well as environmental assessment. <br /><br />

The Yearbook Ecology 2007 has been published at the end of September 2006. Ecologic is one of the institutes supporting this yearbook. This year's focus is on resource productivity, stakeholder dialogues as well as on energy policy.

Germany has a very good record on water services. Despite high connection rates and almost full cost recovery, the total annual costs for consumers are at the same level or even cheaper than in other countries. This is an outcome of the specific way in which water management is organised in Germany. This contribution by R. Andreas Kraemer, Britta Pielen and Colette de Roo endeavours to explain the practice of municipal enterprises embedded in Germany’s federal structures, the levels of water services, and reveals why water services can be as good and as cheap as they are.

<p>&#13; Aaron Best spoke at the EcoFest 2007 held in Ohrid on the shores of Lake Ohrid in the southwestern part of Macedonia. He discussed water policy and management in the USA and EU, sharing with the audience international experience on a topic of particular interest to the residents of Ohrid.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; At the EcoFest 2007, Aaron Best discussed the relationship between transportation and the environment, focusing in economic terms on the costs and benefits to the environment of various modes of transportation. He also discussed some of the ways governments offset some of those costs through taxes and charges.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; At the American Corner of the city library in Skopje, Macedonia, Aaron Best discussed recent developments in energy and climate policy in the United States, seeking to explain the resurgent interest in these issues on the part of the American people.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; Besides the potential benefits of biomass, there is increasing public awareness of the more problematic aspects, including a possible increase in the intensity of agriculture and further destruction of the rainforest. In her lecture, Stephanie Schlegel outlined the opportunities for and the risks of renewable energy expansion with emphasis on the current debate surrounding the bioenergy boom. In addition, she led a discussion with the audience about which instruments are useful for creating the bioenergy boom sustainably and the requirements for policy and consumers.</p>&#13;

Both the USA and Germany are currently engaged in a battle over the respective rights of the federal government vs. the states in determining environmental standards and regulations. In the United States, California and a number of other states are endeavoring to introduce emissions regulations, either singly or in regional partnerships. In Germany, reform of federalism could lead to exceptions from country-wide environmental regulations. In both instances, this tug of war could lead to disparate environmental regulations and standards from region to region, an outcome that could pose significant challenges for industry. An AICGS Policy Report focuses on the federalism debate as it relates to environmental regulation in Germany and the United States and its implications for business. This contribution of R. Andreas Kraemer focuses on federalism and environmental regulation in Germany and the EU.