This report analysed if and how EU Member States used their auctioning revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for climate action. For this purpose, we selected eight case study countries, namely Czech, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal. As part of these case studies, we examined the reporting, the legal provisions and the political narrative around auctioning revenues through desk research and expert interviews.
This study analysed if and how EU Member States used their auctioning revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for climate action. For this purpose, we selected eight case study countries, namely Czech, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal. As part of these case studies, we examined the reporting, the legal provisions and the political narrative around auctioning revenues through desk research and expert interviews.
Ecologic Institute organised this side event focusing on the source-to-sea approach, multi-use of marine space and marine protected areas in Europe's seas (and transitional waters) – all timely topics in marine management and conservation. In three distinct sessions, a series of ambitious projects provided an insightful picture of how to balance the increasing use of coastal-marine ecosystems with the preservation or even restoration of their biological richness, by mitigating impacts and curbing pressures to achieve true sustainability. Based on the project contributions, a wider panel discussion with experts from different fields of knowledge discussed the approaches and their synergies, look for holistic solutions and consider what is needed to realise the vision of thriving, healthy European seas and coasts for future generations.
As part of the project Dialogue Forum "Private Households", a mapping of existing actors and initiatives in Germany was carried out and evaluated. The aim of this structured categorisation is to gain an overview of the current landscape of measures in order to identify which effective starting points are already covered by current measures and which are not, and how existing measures can be improved and their effectiveness increased.
Despite Germany's Circular Economy and Waste Management Act "Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Abfallgesetz" of 1996, the country's economy remains essentially linear. To transition from this status quo and lead the way towards a genuinely circular and resource-efficient economy, the development of a National Circular Economy Strategy (Nationale Kreislaufwirtschaftsstrategie) (NKWS) is now in progress. The project provides scientific support to the development of this strategy, as much as to the related debate.
The 2022 publication is Eurostat's sixth regular report monitoring progress towards the SDGs in an EU context. Ecologic Institute's authors covered the chapters on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The publication is available for download.
What might social-ecological data governance look like that preserves individual rights and freedoms, ensures participation, and contributes to sustainable urban development? Is the data generated by daily mobility behaviour private or public in nature? What does this mean for data sharing or for targeted and sustainable use of the data? What roles can so-called intermediaries like a data trustee play? In the eleventh edition of Wandelwecker, our morning feature for a social and ecological metropolis, we discussed these questions with two renowned experts.
What kind of Europe do we want for the year 2035? This question is addressed by the EU initiative 'Conference on the Future of Europe', which enables European citizens to discuss their own ideas for Europe's future. Within the member states respective National Citizens' Panels, participants developed policy recommendations that were later passed on to the Conference. Ecologic Institute's Matthias Duwe gave a presentation on the topic of Climate and Environment at the Citizens' Forum in Germany on 15 January 2022.
The 2022 overview brochure accompanies Eurostat's sixth regular report monitoring progress towards the SDGs in an EU context. Ecologic Institute's authors covered the chapters on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The brochure is available for download.
The 2024 overview brochure accompanies Eurostat's eighth regular report monitoring progress towards the SDGs in an EU context. Ecologic Institute's authors covered the chapters on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The brochure is available for download.
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament adopted its reform proposals for the EU Climate Action Regulation last Monday. These contain important improvements, but overall they are disappointing, says Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in the Tagesspiegel.
The overall goal of SCALE-UP is to support regional multi-actor partnerships, consisting of private businesses, governments and policymakers, civil society organisations, and researchers in identifying and scaling-up innovative and sustainable bio-based value chains that build on regional resources. Through its approach, SCALE-UP will adapt, implement and evaluate tools to help regional actors to overcome the apparent bottlenecks towards fully exploiting bioeconomy potentials in their region.
On 11 May 2022, the RECIPES project has held its dissemination conference "Precaution for Responsible Innovation: New Options to Move Forward". At the conference, the RECIPES project presented and discussed some ideas on how to improve the use of the precautionary principle that were developed in consultation with several stakeholders at various points during the project period (the RECIPES guidance). The conference brought together around 90 participants from a range of different actor groups, including several of those who had participated in one or more of the RECIPES workshops. The conference was carried out in hybrid format, so the participants joined it on-site or online.
From 16 to 26 May 2022, the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) will convene a two-week ETS training course to provide basic training on emissions trading in Asian countries. Over two weeks consisting of eight course days, participants will learn the basic concepts and key elements of emissions trading through a mix of presentations from expert speakers and policy practitioners as well as interactive activities. Each session will draw on examples and experiences from existing ETS to explain the main design choices for setting up new ETS and to convey solutions for their implementation.
The UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration offers the opportunity to link thematic areas that were previously treated rather separately, as well as to clarify their interdependencies and to create synergies. This includes, for example, linking the topic of ecosystem restoration with different topics in the areas of biodiversity and climate. To illustrate these linkages, Ecologic Institute is preparing a total of 10 policy papers for the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). These papers are intended to support key German actors in implementing the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration as part of the overarching GIZ project "Supporting the Design and Implementation of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration" (DEER).