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Linda Mederake

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Linda Mederake

MA (International Relations)
BA (Political Management)

Co-Coordinator Plastics
Fellow

Team
Topics

Linda Mederake joined Ecologic Institute in August 2017 and works as Fellow and Co-Coordinator Plastics for the institute. Her work focuses on issues related to the governance of plastics as well as climate mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity in the urban context and with regard to the local and regional level. Her native language is German; she is fluent in English and has a good knowledge of French and Spanish.

Linda Mederake is currently working on the topic of plastics in the citizen science project Plastic Pirates – German Coast. Municipal climate protection is the focus of the project Ready4NetZero – Capacity Development for Long-term Climate Neutrality Strategies in Towns and Cities while Climate Adaptation Naturally! aims to support cities and municipalities in the implementation of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation with the help of practice-oriented applications. In a smaller project for the environmental ministry in Baden-Wurttemberg, Linda develops the content for a travelling exhibition on links between the biodiversity and climate crises.

Before starting at Ecologic Institute, Linda Mederake supported work at the Oeko-Institut within the context of the project Rural Urban Nexus – Global Sustainable Land Use and Urbanisation.

Linda Mederake graduated with a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Universität Potsdam (Germany) in 2017. Her master thesis was written in connection with the project Behind the Scenes: Mapping the Role of Treaty Secretariats in International Environmental Policy-Making and explored the role of the UNFCCC secretariat as a knowledge broker. Linda Mederake holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Management from Hochschule Bremen – University of Applied Sciences (Germany). During her studies, she spent an internship semester in Brussels and an exchange semester at Greenwich University in 2012 as well as another semester abroad at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2015.

In 2020, she started a dissertation at University of Osnabrück on policy change in plastics policies at EU level.

Aside from her professional career, Linda Mederake is an active member of Friends of the Earth Germany. Currently, she is deputy spokesperson of the Working Group on Waste and Raw Materials.

Linda Mederake is on parental leave until spring 2026.

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Selected projects by Linda Mederake
 

© BMBF/Gesine Born

Since 2016, young people have been successfully researching and mapping plastic pollution in and around rivers in Germany. As part of the citizen research project Plastic Pirates, they take on the role of scientists and investigate the state of our rivers. More than 1... Read more
 

© Sandra Naumann

Ready4NetZero aims to support small- and medium-sized cities in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Croatia in the development and implementation of local strategies to reach climate neutrality. To do so, the project creates knowledge resources (written guidance) and provides... Read more
 

© Getty Images 2024

The links between the biodiversity and climate crises are little known among the general public, or only partial knowledge exists. This applies to the effects of climate change on the biosphere, but also to knowledge about ecosystem services and nature-based solutions. ... Read more
 
| Fotolia © Christian Schulz
In the framework of the scientific accompanying research (PlastikNet) of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" (Plastik in der Umwelt – Quellen • Senken • Lösungsansätze) Ecologic Institute coordinated 20 joint research projects,... Read more
 
Recycling and giving back

Photo by Jack Church on Unsplash

In view of a strong waste management sector with good separate waste collection rates and high recycling rates of over 80 %, Germany is generally well positioned to increase the use of recyclates. So far, however, this potential has only been partially exploited.... Read more
 

© PhotoDreamWorldArt | pixabay.com

No other plastic usage represents the problem of plastic pollution as much as single-use plastics (SUPs) do. They are the most common type of plastics produced, and, at the same time, the most littered in the environment. SUP consumption is booming worldwide, with Asia... Read more

Asia's Opportunity to End Single-use Plastic Pollution

Duration
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Funding
 

Plastic Litter at Koh Ta Kiev, Cambodia

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CC0

At the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), planned for the end of February 2022, one or more Resolutions will be tabled calling for the creation of an International Negotiating Committee to discuss content of a potential Global Plastics Agreement. Discussions of... Read more
Selected publications by Linda Mederake
 
Hinzmann Mederake EU single use plastics directive article

© 2023 Elsevier

To address plastic pollution, the European Union adopted the so called "Single-Use Plastics Directive" (SUPD), which bans several single-use plastic products and introduces measures such as extended producer responsibility and obligatory requirements for product... Read more

Kiessling, Tim et al. 2023: What potential does the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive have for reducing plastic pollution at coastlines and riversides? An evaluation based on citizen science data. Waste Management 164 (2023).106-118.

 
Cover Journal Circular Economy and Sustainability

Springer Nature

To tackle the "plastic crisis", the concept of circular economy has attracted considerable attention over the past years, both by practitioners and scholars alike. Against this background, Linda Mederake, Ecologic Institute, reflects in this opinion paper from a... Read more

Mederake, Linda (2022): Without a Debate on Sufficiency, a Circular Plastics Economy will Remain an Illusion. Circ.Econ.Sust. doi.org/10.1007/s43615-022-00240-3

 
Report Cover "Global Rules in a New Global Treaty"

© WWF Philippines

In March 2022, at the resumed fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly, UN Member States adopted the historic decision to start negotiating a global treaty to combat plastic pollution. As national delegations and relevant stakeholders in Asia start... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Knoblauch, Doris (2022): Global rules in a new global treaty: Asia's opportunity to end single-use plastic pollution. Published in July 2022 by WWF Philippines.

 
Cover Key Messages

© Ecologic Institute

The publication summarizes the key messages from all 20 joint research projects and the seven cross-cutting topics of the research focus. Structured along the following ten main topics, the central results are presented in order to derive recommendations for various... Read more

Hinzmann, Mandy; Knoblauch, Doris; Mederake, Linda; Schritt, Hannes; Stein, Ulf (eds.) (2022): Key messages of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment".

The emission of plastics into the environment is growing worldwide. Since existing regulations are not sufficient to curb the problem, the ever-increasing plastic production and use must be reduced overall. A systemic approach is needed that holds all actors responsible... Read more

Beyerl, Katharina; Bogner, Franz; Daskalakis, Maria; Decker, Thomas; Hentschel, Anja; Hinzmann, Mandy; Loges, Bastian; Knoblauch, Doris; Mederake, Linda; Müller,, Ruth; Rubik, Frieder; Schweiger, Stefan; Stieß, Immanuel (2022): Wege zum nachhaltigen Umgang mit Kunststoffen: Kernbotschaften sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 31(1), 51-53.

Plastics regulation

 
Hinzmann Mederake EU single use plastics directive article

© 2023 Elsevier

To address plastic pollution, the European Union adopted the so called "Single-Use Plastics Directive" (SUPD), which bans several single-use plastic products and introduces measures such as extended producer responsibility and obligatory requirements for product... Read more

Kiessling, Tim et al. 2023: What potential does the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive have for reducing plastic pollution at coastlines and riversides? An evaluation based on citizen science data. Waste Management 164 (2023).106-118.

 
Cover Journal Circular Economy and Sustainability

Springer Nature

To tackle the "plastic crisis", the concept of circular economy has attracted considerable attention over the past years, both by practitioners and scholars alike. Against this background, Linda Mederake, Ecologic Institute, reflects in this opinion paper from a... Read more

Mederake, Linda (2022): Without a Debate on Sufficiency, a Circular Plastics Economy will Remain an Illusion. Circ.Econ.Sust. doi.org/10.1007/s43615-022-00240-3

 
Report Cover "Global Rules in a New Global Treaty"

© WWF Philippines

In March 2022, at the resumed fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly, UN Member States adopted the historic decision to start negotiating a global treaty to combat plastic pollution. As national delegations and relevant stakeholders in Asia start... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Knoblauch, Doris (2022): Global rules in a new global treaty: Asia's opportunity to end single-use plastic pollution. Published in July 2022 by WWF Philippines.

The emission of plastics into the environment is growing worldwide. Since existing regulations are not sufficient to curb the problem, the ever-increasing plastic production and use must be reduced overall. A systemic approach is needed that holds all actors responsible... Read more

Beyerl, Katharina; Bogner, Franz; Daskalakis, Maria; Decker, Thomas; Hentschel, Anja; Hinzmann, Mandy; Loges, Bastian; Knoblauch, Doris; Mederake, Linda; Müller,, Ruth; Rubik, Frieder; Schweiger, Stefan; Stieß, Immanuel (2022): Wege zum nachhaltigen Umgang mit Kunststoffen: Kernbotschaften sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 31(1), 51-53.

 

© DECHEMA

The article reflects on the 59th Tutzing Symposion entitled "Polymers for a better life and circular economy" that took place as an online event in October 2021. Based on the presentations at the symposium, the contribution provides an overview of current debates on the... Read more

Mederake, Linda (2022): Eine Kreislaufwirtschaft für Kunststoffe – Aktuelle Diskussionen, Trends und politische Herausforderungen. Eine Reflexion des Tutzing Symposions 2021 "Polymers for a better life and circular economy". In: Müll und Abfall, 54 (2), 77-83.

 
graphic government policies combatting plastic pollution

© Ecologic Institute

In this review, Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch and Linda Mederake analyse the subject focus of 45 articles (published 2019–2021), dealing with government action to regulate plastic pollution. Policies described in the articles and introduced between 2016 and 2021... Read more

Knoblauch, D.; Mederake, L. (2021): Government policies combatting plastic pollution, Current Opinion in Toxicology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cotox.2021.10.003.

 
Publiction's cover "Einfach weglassen"

oekom Verlag

The discussion about plastic waste is anything but new for German municipalities. In fact, as early as the 1980s, numerous German municipalities were experimenting with plastic waste prevention regulations and waste prevention in general. A further impetus for plastic... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Seeger, Dorothea (2020): Plastikvermeidung auf kommunaler Ebene. In: Kröger, Melanie; Pape, Jens; Wittwer, Alexandra (Hrsg.) (2020): Einfach weglassen? Ein wissenschaftliches Lesebuch zur Reduktion von Plastikverpackungen im Lebensmittelhandel. ISBN: 978-3-96238-243-8. Oekom Verlag, München.

 
This article (written in German) examines various policies and approaches that are currently being implemented or planned as solutions to the plastics crisis. It becomes clear that in national and international policies plastics are mainly described as a problem of... Read more

Mederake, L., Araujo Sosa, A. und Hirschnitz-Garbers, M. (2020): Mehr Kohärenz bitte! Plastikpolitik in Deutschland, Europa und weltweit. Politische Ökologie, Band 161, 76-82.

 
Plastic pollution – especially the dramatic littering of the oceans – and the public concerns about it have powerfully brought the issue on the European and German political agenda. Since then, there have been a whole series of new initiatives to regulate plastics -... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Hinzmann, Mandy; Langsdorf, Susanne (2020): Hintergrundpapier: Plastikpolitik in Deutschland und der EU. Ecologic Institut: Berlin.

 
Anzahl von Pro-Argumenten für die Plastikregulierung nach Sub-Kategorien
This article by Ecologic Institute's Linda Mederake and Doris Knoblauch uses a structuring qualitative content analysis to investigate the parliamentary debates of two recently adopted plastic policies in the EU – namely the EU Plastics Strategy and the Single-Use... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Knoblauch, Doris (2019): Shaping EU Plastic Policies: The Role of Public Health vs. Environmental Arguments. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2019, 16, 3928.

 
Cover Plastic Atlas 2019

Heinrich Boell Foundation

There are numerous regulatory approaches at international, regional and national level regarding the handling of plastic products and plastic waste. What they all have in common is their limited effectiveness. In their contribution, Linda Mederake, Stephan Gürtler and... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Gürtler, Stephan; Knoblauch, Doris (2019): Regulation: Solutions at the Wrong End. In: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung und BUND – Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (Eds.): Plastic Atlas 2019. Facts and figures about the world of synthetic polymers. Berlin.

 
Plastiktütenpolitiken im Globalen Norden und Globalen Süden
While diffusion patterns are quite well understood in the context of the Global North, diffusion research has only been applied to a limited extent to investigate how policies spread across developing countries. In this article, Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch,... Read more

Knoblauch, D.; Mederake, L.; Stein, U. Developing Countries in the Lead—What Drives the Diffusion of Plastic Bag Policies? Sustainability 2018, 10, 1994.

 
Marine plastic pollution is a fast growing problem and it is not yet possible to estimate how severe the impacts currently are. Between 4.8 and 12.7 Mt of plastics ends up in the ocean each year, adding to the uncontrolled plastic waste already floating around the world... Read more

Simon, Nils et al. (2018): No More Plastics in the Ocean. Gaps in Global Plastic Governance and Options for a Legally Binding Agreement to Eliminate Marine Plastic Pollution. Draft report for WWF to support discussions at the Ad Hoc Open-ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics. Berlin: adelphi.

Nature-based solutions/Green Infrastructure

 
Publication's cover

© Ecologic Institute & the Sendzimir Foundation Berlin – Kraków 2020

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that are inspired and supported by nature. They can be used in urban settings to complement or replace "traditional" or "grey" solutions to social and environmental challenges, such as air pollution, the heat island effect,... Read more

Naumann, S., Davis, M., Iwaszuk, E., Freundt, M., Mederake, L., 2020: Addressing climate change in cities – Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions. Ecologic Institute, the Sendzimir Foundation: Berlin, Krakow.

Naumann, S., Davis, M., Iwaszuk, E., Freundt, M., Mederake, L., 2020: Błękitno-zielona infrastruktura dla łagodzenia zmian klimatu w miastach. Narzędzia strategiczne. Ecologic Institute, Fundacja Sendzimira: Berlin, Krakow.

 
The multifunctional character of nature-based solutions (NBS) enables them to provide responses to both social and environmental challenges. Analysis has shown that there is significant potential for NBS to help achieve sustainable urban development objectives.... Read more

Knoblauch, D., Naumann, S., Mederake, L., Araujo Sosa, A. C. 2020: CLEVER Cities Policy Brief. Ecologic Institute, Berlin.

 
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that are inspired and supported by nature. They can be used in urban settings to complement or replace "traditional" or "grey" solutions to perform functions, such as thermal insulation and stormwater retention and filtration.... Read more

English version: Iwaszuk, E., Rudik, G., Duin, L., Mederake, L., Davis, M., Naumann, S., Wagner, I., 2019: Addressing Climate Change in Cities. Catalogue of Urban Nature-Based Solutions. Ecologic Institute, the Sendzimir Foundation: Berlin, Krakow.

Polish version: Iwaszuk, E., Rudik, G., Duin, L., Mederake, L., Davis, M., Naumann, S., Wagner, I., 2019: Błękitno-zielona
infrastruktura dla łagodzenia zmian klimatu w miastach. Katalog techniczny. Ecologic Institute, Fundacja Sendzimira: Berlin, Krakow.

 
In this report, Doris Knoblauch, Sandra Naumann, Linda Mederake and Ariel Carlos Araujo Sosa (all Ecologic Institute) explore the extent to which current policy frameworks support sustainable urban development and nature-based solutions (NBS). To this end, policies... Read more

Knoblauch et al. (2019). Multi-level policy framework for sustainable urban development and nature-based solutions -- Status quo, gaps and oppor-tunities. Deliverable 1.2, CLEVER Cities, H2020 grant no. 776604.

 
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being adopted as an effective tool to address urban challenges, as they provide a range of ecological, social and economic benefits. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation?... Read more

Davis, M.; Abhold, K.; Mederake, L.; Knoblauch, D. (2018): Nature-based solutions in European and national policy frameworks. Deliverable 1.5, NATURVATION. Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No 730243, European Commission, 50 pp.

 
Climate change and its impacts are already tangible and necessitate swift and concrete adaptation and mitigation actions. This involves a dual approach, which combats the causes of climate change and also supports society in dealing with a changing climate and its... Read more

Naumann, S., M. Davis, B. Goeller, A. Gradmann, L. Mederake, J. Stadler und K. Bockmühl (2015): Ökosystembasierte Ansätze zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel und zum Klimaschutz im deutschsprachigen Raum. BfN-Skripten 395. Bundesamt für Naturschutz.

Local Climate Policies

 
Cover Environmental Politics

© Taylor and Francis

In this article, the authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Linda Mederake, assess innovative climate governance in small-to-medium-sized structurally disadvantaged cities (SDCs). Considering their deeply ingrained severe economic and social problems, it would be... Read more

Wurzel, Rüdiger; Moulton, Jeremy; Osthorst, Winfried; Mederake, Linda; Deutz, Pauline; Jonas, Andrew (2019): Climate pioneership and leadership in structurally disadvantaged maritime port cities. Environmental Politics 28(1): 146-166.

 
"While nations talk, cities act." This quote from Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, reflects the frequent portrayal of the role of cities and local governments in global climate governance: in light of concerns about the inability of national governments to... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Iwaszuk, Ewa; Knoblauch, Doris (2019): The evolving role of cities as non-state actors in the international climate regime. In: Abdullah, Hannah (Ed.) Cities in World Politics. Local responses to global challenges. Monografías CIDOB 75. Barcelona: CIDOB.

 
With both the impact of climate change on cities and the role cities play in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions becoming increasingly apparent, many cities around the world are adopting long-term climate policy strategies or vision documents outlining how they... Read more

Iwaszuk, Ewa; Mederake, Linda; Knoblauch, Doris (2019): The Transformative Potential of Local Climate Change Strategies. In: Zevi, Tobia (Ed.) The Century of Global Cities. How Urbanisation is Changing the World and Shaping our Future. Milan: Italian Institute for International Political Studies.

 
Governments around the world have already adopted long-term climate frameworks, many in legal form. Many others are in the process of developing similar laws or strategies. These overarching long-term frameworks are critical to effectively implementing the Paris... Read more

Duwe et al. (2017) "Paris compatible" governance: long-term policy frameworks to drive transformational change. Ecologic Institute. Berlin.

Selected events by Linda Mederake
 
Social media event card with the webinar's titel "Citizen Participation for Climate Neutrality", the project name " Ready4NetZero" and the logos of the involved institutions.

Ready4NetZero project

On the way to climate neutrality, the role of citizen involvement and participatory planning is crucial for a variety of reasons such as ensuring transparency in decision-making, governance openness and ownership over the decisions given to the public. Engaging the... Read more

Digital Event:Navigating Challenges in Citizen Participation for Climate Neutrality

Date
Location
online
 

© Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg/WBG-Pooling

For the transport of goods from the factory or a warehouse to retailers or wholesalers, disposable packaging is the norm, which becomes waste after one single use. Reusable systems provide an alternative to this waste of resources. While reusable transport packaging is... Read more

Digital Event:Reusable Transport Packaging

Date
Location
online via Zoom
 
Theme day: Plastics in the environment

Ecologic Institute

Can microplastics get into the water, when I wash a fleece jacket made of polyester? How many climate-damaging greenhouse gases are emitted by the production of plastic? What is chemical recycling? Together with numerous researchers from all over Germany, we got to the... Read more

Conference:Theme Day: Plastic in the Environment

Date
Location
Berlin, Germany
Selected presentations by Linda Mederake
 

Foto: BMBF / Gesine Born

In the citizen science project Plastic Pirates, children and teenagers become citizen scientists. In an interview with "Bürger schaffen Wissen", the central platform for citizen science in Germany, Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute) and Tim Kiessling (Kiel Science... Read more

Interview:We Use Citizen Science to Contribute to Planetary Health

Date
Location
Berlin/Kiel, Germany
 
On 29 May 2019, Doris Knoblauch and Linda Mederake, both scientific researchers at Ecologic Institute, were guest "professors" at the Nürti Üni, the schoolchildren's university of the Nürtingen Primary School in Berlin-Kreuzberg. They held a lecture on "Plastics Crisis ... Read more
 

Präsentation Plastikpiraten

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© Plastikpiraten

At the dialogue event "The River, the Waste and Me" by the Berlin initiative "Alles im Fluss" in cooperation with "Stadtgespräch Wasser bewegt Berlin" on water pollution control and waste on the banks, Linda Mederake, scientific researcher at Ecologic Institute,... Read more
 
Präsentation "Towards a Global Plastics Convention"
At Scotland's International Marine Conference 2019, Ecologic Institute's Linda Mederake presented results from the study "No more Plastics in the Ocean – Gaps in Global Plastic Governance and Options for a Legally Binding Agreement to Eliminate Marine Plastic Pollution"... Read more

Lecture:Towards a Global Plastics Convention

Date
Location
Glasgow, United Kingdom