Dr. Stephan Sina

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Dr. Stephan Sina

Rechtsanwalt (Lawyer)

Senior Fellow
Coordinating In-house Counsel

Team
Topics

Dr. Stephan Sina is a Senior Fellow at Ecologic Legal and the Coordinating In-house Counsel of Ecologic Institute. He is an experienced project leader working at all levels of environmental law and policy (national, EU, and international). His main areas of expertise are climate legislation, energy law and environmental compliance with a focus on criminal law. Stephan Sina is admitted as a lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) and certified as a specialist in administrative law. A native speaker of German, he also works in English and French.

In the field of climate legislation, Stephan Sina has supported the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) as well as the Environment ministries of Baden-Württemberg and Berlin in the development of framework laws on climate change (Bundes-Klimaschutzgesetz, Klimaschutzgesetz Baden-Württemberg, Energiewendegesetz Berlin). He has also assisted the BMU in negotiations at the European level on issues of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

His work on energy law includes an assessment of the Renewable Energy Directive, support for the implementation of European Network Codes in Germany, and a project on the structuring of a comprehensive national energy law. He also supports the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) in an accompanying research process for Germany's major energy research programme SINTEG that showcases innovative solutions for a fully renewable energy system.

Regarding environmental compliance, Stephan Sina has contributed to several studies on environmental criminal law and wildlife crime at the European and national level, inter alia for the EU-funded research project EU Action to Fight Environmental Crime (EFFACE). He has presented project results and recommendations to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament and to the experts of the Bund and the Länder on cross-cutting issues of environmental law.

Other areas of expertise include resource governance with a focus on waste law and policy, notably plastic waste pollution.

In addition to his research and consultancy work, Stephan Sina has lectured on environmental law at the Berlin Academy for Administration and has been teaching climate change law in a programme for international students at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR).

Before joining Ecologic Institute, Stephan Sina practiced environmental and energy law at a law firm and worked as a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg (Germany).

Stephan Sina studied law at the Universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Heidelberg (Germany), and Edinburgh (United Kingdom). With a scholarship from the Cusanuswerk, Stephan Sina obtained his PhD with a thesis on the international status of the Palestinian Autonomous Territories. He has a diploma in comparative law from the University of Strasbourg (France).

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Recent content by Dr. Stephan Sina

Event:Visitors Program
 
On 21 October 2024, Ecologic Institute hosted a delegation from Beijing, accompanied by representatives from GIZ. This visit took place in the context of the project "Analyses of German and European Climate Law Structure," and underscores the Institute's commitment to fostering global knowledge exchange on climate action.

Analyses of the Structure of German and European Climate Protection Law


Berlin, Germany

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Presentation:Speech
 
On 3 September 2024, Dr Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on ‘Legislation between Climate Action and Security of Supply - Challenges of the Energy Transition’ as part of a visit by a delegation from the Legislative Affairs Commission (LAC) of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China to the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action. In addition to two further presentations by representatives of the Ministry, there was an exchange of views with the Chinese delegation.

Legislation between Climate Action and Security of Supply


Dr. Stephan Sina

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Publication:Book Section
 
Book cover titled 'Współczesne Wyzwania Prawa Ochrony Klimatu', edited by Maria Magdalena Kenig-Witkowska, Anna Barczak, and Marcin Stoczkiewicz. The cover has a simple design with a white background and a blue section at the bottom. The publisher's logo, Wolters Kluwer, is visible at the lower left corner.
As an output of the international academic conference "Towards the Polish Climate Protection Act" on 7 September 2022 in Szczecin, Wolters Kluwer Poland has published an edited volume entitled "Współczesne Wyzwania Prawa Ochony Klimatu" (Contemporary challenges of climate law). Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, contributed an English language essay on the German Federal Climate Change Act. He describes the development and main features of the Act, as well as its revision based on the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on 24 March 2021. He also presents lessons learned and good practices, and addresses challenges.

The German Federal Climate Change Act

Year

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Publication:Report
 
cover oage (updated)
This publication discusses the penalty regime to be established by the EU Member States to sanction infringements against the recently adopted EU Methane Regulation (EU-MER). In these regimes, (administrative) fines will play a major role. The EU-MER stipulates that the level of fines must be proportionate to the environmental damage and impact on human health associated with the infringement as the core criterion. The working paper proposes applying a core reference value of 6.000 EUR/tCH4 to be adjusted according to the aggravating or mitigating factors foreseen by the regulation.

Penalties and Selected Legal Issues

Implementing the EU Methane Regulation Working Paper N° 3

Year

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Project
 
As part of the implementation of its NDC, the Chinese government is focusing on further developing its climate legislation. According to recent developments, China plans to develop an environmental code with a chapter on climate. The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports the Chinese side by strengthening exchange between experts and stakeholders from the two countries and providing information on German and EU experience in this field. In this context, Ecologic Institute will conduct two studies on German and European climate legislation, one of them focusing on the structure of climate-related laws and their relationship to environmental laws.

Analyses of German and European Climate Law Structure

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Presentation:Panel discussion
 
Dr Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion in the Bundestag as part of a workshop on environmental crime organised by Bündnis90/Die Grünen. In his keynote speech, he outlined the most important innovations of the amended EU Environmental Crime Directive and the challenges of its implementation in Germany. The panel discussion was chaired by MdB Lukas Benner. Other panellists were Katharina Lang (WWF) on the topic of illegal timber trade and journalist Marius Münstermann on the topic of illegal waste trade.

Amendments to the EU Environmental Crime Directive


Dr. Stephan Sina

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Presentation:Speech
 
1st slide of sina's presentation on "Prosecution under the amended Environmental Crime Directive"
Dr Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation on prosecution under the amended Environmental Crime Directive at an information event organised by Green Legal Impact and Stop Ecocide Germany on the new EU environmental criminal law. He began by describing the special features of criminal prosecution in the environmental sector and the reason for the first-time inclusion of criminal prosecution provisions in the Directive. He then gave an overview of the regulations on resources and training, co-operation between authorities, the national strategy for combating environmental crime and statistical data. The presentation ended with examples of challenges and approaches to implementing the directive in Germany.

Prosecution Under the Amended Environmental Crime Directive


Dr. Stephan Sina

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Publication:Report
 
Cover of Ecologic institute's report "Analysis of the implementation of EU provisions for the clean energy transition in selected Member States"
This report assesses the implementation status and quality of a selection of 11 provisions from 4 EU laws in 6 EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland and Spain). These 4 EU laws are Directive (EU) 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity (DIR), Regulation (EU) 2019/943 on the internal market for electricity (REG), Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable resources (RED) and Regulation (EU) 2022/2577 laying down a framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy (ACC).

Analysis of the Implementation of EU Provisions for the Clean Energy Transition in Selected Member States

Year

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Presentation:Speech
 
Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow of Ecologic Institute, held an online speech at the 8th International Forum on Environmental Rule of Law "Climate Change and Carbon Neutral Legal System: International Metropolitan Dialogue" on 6 November 2023 in Shanghai. He gave an overview of Germany's Federal Climate Change Act (KSG), its impact in Germany, and the current revision of the KSG.

An Overview of Germany's Federal Climate Change Act


Dr. Stephan Sina

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