Ecologic Institute researchers presented interim results of the project: CO-designing the Assessment of Climate Change Costs (COACCH) at the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA) 2019 in Lisbon (Portugal). The presentations covered first experiences from the COACCH Co-Design process, as well as a recently prepared synthesis of Economic costs of climate change and adaptation in Europe.

On 9 April 2019, Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated a panel discussion on the political and social dimensions of plastics in the environment. Participants presented the first social science results of their collaborative projects and discussed possible courses of action

Senator Bernie Sanders invited some of the most prominent voices in America to the US Congress to discuss how to handle the increasing threat of climate change. Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute reflected on global trends in the field of energy, climate policy, and business.

If and how Germany can afford the coal phase-out was the subject of the presentation by Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert at an event, which took place on the heels of the first meeting of the new German task force for phasing out coal power. Co-hosted by the DIW Berlin and the OECD Berlin, Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute discussed with Prof. Kemfert and the audience the broad range of relevant questions.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation? At the international conference on "Nature-based solutions: From Innovation to Common-Use", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis addressed this question in a session on 'Blue-green infrasturcture in smart cities'. Held in Tallinn (Estonia) from the 24 to 26 October 2017, the flagship conference was part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union.

The World Resources Forum 2017 entitled "Accelerating the Resource Revolution" was held in Geneva from 24 to 25 October 2017. Ecologic Institute's Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers reflected on the conception and evaluation of policy mixes for resource conservation based on the experiences of the SimRess project. The presentation slides are available for download.

As part of the FP7 MARS e-conference on the "Future of Water Management in Europe: Reviewing the WFD implementation", Josselin Rouillard presented an overview of key synergies and conflicts between EU policies in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). After presenting the variety of relevant EU policies, Josselin presented key results from the H2020 project Aquacross on policy integration in EU water polices and the challenges of mainstreaming water policy in sectoral policies. He then presented in more detail the outcomes of a survey of Rural Development Programmes and their contribution to supporting the objectives of the WFD.

Green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, how can they be mainstreamed in practice and to what extent do current policy frame-works support their implementation? At the international conference on "Urban Green In-frastructure - Connecting People and Nature for Sustainable Cities", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis and Sandra Naumann addressed these and other issues in targeted ses-sions. The conference, held in Malmö (Sweden) from 20 to 21 September 2017, was the final conference of the EU-funded GreenSurge project.

<p>The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the upcoming climate negotiations and global trends in the energy sector – these topics were discussed during a panel discussion on "Current Challenges in Climate and Energy Policy" at the Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

<p>Is the existing EU policy framework fit to protect and restore marine biodiversity? Could an upstream approach such as the utilization of ecosystem-based management be the key to coordinating environmental policies? At the Future Oceans conference titled "Advances in Integrated Ocean Research towards Sustainable Development" held at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Kiel from 2 until 7 July 2017, Ecologic Institute's Katrina Abhold and Lina Röschel gave short, energetic talks that addressed exactly these pressing issues in the fields of marine science and policy. In the Science Session on Ocean Resilience on Tuesday 4 July 2017, Katrina Abhold, a Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented ecosystem-based management (EBM) as an opportunity to strengthen EU environmental policy coordination to better protect aquatic biodiversity.</p>&#13;

<p>Is the existing EU policy framework fit to protect and restore marine biodiversity? Could an upstream approach such as ecosystem-based management be the key to coordinating environmental policies? At the Future Oceans conference titled "Advances in Integrated Ocean Research towards Sustainable Development" held in Kiel (Germany) from 2 until 7 July 2017, Ecologic Institute's Katrina Abhold and Lina Röschel gave short, energetic talks that addressed exactly these pressing issues in the fields of marine science and policy. On Monday 3 July 2017, Junior Researcher Lina Röschel kicked off the Science Session on Ocean Pressures by elaborating on the complexity of the EU's existing policy framework in relation to halting biodiversity loss.</p>&#13;

Ecologic Institute's Brendan O'Donnell was invited to deliver a keynote address on the topic of community participation in large-scale urban transformation projects in Marseille (France), as part of the EUCANET project.

On 5 July 2016, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on "The Energy Transition in Germany and the Renewable Energy Sources Act: Context, Legal and Procedural Aspects" for a delegation from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People's Republic of China. The presentation was part of a study tour on European and German Climate Change Legislation organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. The presentation slides are available for download.

On invitation of the Rock Environment and Energy Institute Susanne Langsdorf, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took part in an "Energy Transformation Roundtable Discussion" in Beijing on November 3rd 2015. At the roundtable a group of international experts presented and discussed different "roadmaps" to an energy transition. Susanne Langsdorf presented the energy transition ("Energiewende") in Germany.

In two presentations Ina Krüger (Ecologic Institute) introduced the work of Ecologic Institute at the 13th International Conference "EUROPE-INBO 2015" for the implementation of the European Water Directives. In a short presentation at the round table 'The financing of water policy and economic analysis' Ina Krueger presented the results of an evaluation of the water abstraction charge and the compensation payments to farmers in the state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). The presentation slides are available for download.

Learning everything from books? Not at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen which emphasizes the incorporation of practical knowledge into students’ academic routine. It provides students with added value as it illustrates future career opportunities. Therefore, Doris Knoblauch and Evelyn Lukat, senior fellow and researcher at Ecologic Institute, organized the seminar "Think Tank Policy Consulting" in 2015/2016. It was the sixth time that the seminar was held by employees of Ecologic Institute.

Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, joined Bettina Kampman from CE Delft on 2 July 2015 to present and discuss a mid-term evaluation of the Renewable Energy Directive at Directorate-General for Energy (DG Energy) in Brussels (Belgium). The study had been carried out by a consortium of CE Delft, Ricardo-AEA, Ecologic Institute, E-Bridge and REKK, and been published recently on DG Energy's website. The presentation is available for download.

On 19 November 2014, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the European research project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime (EFFACE)" at the 4th Annual General Meeting of the European Network for Environmental Crime (EnviCrimeNet) in The Hague (Netherlands). Ecologic Institute is the coordinator of the EFFACE project. The presentation slides are available for download.

From 14 to 15 November 2014 the conference, "Transformations of the Ecology Movement: from the 'Limits to Growth' to the Rio Conference," took place in the Archiv Grünes Gedächtnis (Green Memory Archive) of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin. Doris Knoblauch and Susanne Langsdorf (both of Ecologic Institute) presented two articles on the development of environmental policy consultancy in Germany, which were written for the project "From 'The Blue Sky above the Ruhr' to the 'Energiewende.'"

On 27 August 2012, Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing, together with Doris Knoblauch of Ecologic Institute, presented the results of an evaluation of the German directive regarding the funding of climate mitigation projects in social, cultural, and public institutions within the framework of the National Climate Initiative ("Richtlinie zur Förderung von Klimaschutzprojekten in sozialen, kulturellen und öffentlichen Einrichtungen im Rahmen der Klimaschutzinitiative", short: Kommunalrichtlinie) on the occasion of the final conference of the project "Evaluation of the National Climate Protection Initiative" in Berlin. Both presentations are available for download.

Elizabeth Tedsen, Transatlantic Fellow, attended the International Arctic Legal Forum: "Protection and Sustainable Development of the Arctic: Legal Aspects" in Salekhard (Russia) and presented Ecologic Institute's EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment projects. The Forum brought together Russian and international policymakers, attorneys, researchers, and diplomats to discuss changes in the Arctic and ideas for sustainable development in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and beyond.

This event was the third stakeholder workshop of the FP7 project IN-STREAM and was organised by the Ecologic Institute Berlin and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). The focus of this workshop was green growth and green innovation and it brought together experts, statisticians, policy makers and representatives of civil society organisations to discuss and share experiences on how to improve the use of indicators to assess the progresses on economic and sustainability goals. The presentations are available for download.&#13;

Sandra Cavalieri, Fellow and Arctic Programme Coordinator at Ecologic Institute, presented the results of the EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment project at a conference hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 8 December 2010 in Paris, France. The results show Europe’s Arctic environmental footprint from a broad range of sources, and added to the discussion on how ESA can improve its satellites and remote sensing data to contribute to the EU’s Arctic policy development. The presentation is available for download.

Climate change brings significant changes to the Arctic, resulting in a new geopolitical dynamics and challenges in the relations between Arctic and non-Arctic nations. On 23 November 2010, the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation convened an expert meeting in Berlin to discuss the strategic, military and political challenges, the role of the EU, and implications for resource, energy and climate policy. R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute was invited as keynote speaker on EU Arctic Policy in the context of regional environmental governance.

<p>&#13;&#13; Do the National Renewable Energy Action Plans concerning Member States’ goals for 2020 address the long-term restructuring of electricity generation? Do they consider possibilities for European cooperation? The Ecologic Institute examined these questions in its analysis of the German Renewable Energy Action Plan commissioned by the European Green Foundation. Ecologic Institute Senior Fellow Stephan Sina presented the results of this study as a panelist at a discussion hosted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation on 27 October 2010.</p>&#13;&#13;

As it implements policy reforms, China needs think tanks to work across traditional divisions of government, contest received wisdom, and produce new ideas.  R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute addressed the importance of environmental think tanks in jointly meeting global challenges at the conference on "Think Tanks in Global Comparison – Modes of Operations" convened by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, on 25 and 26 August 2010.&#13;

<p>&#13; Tanja Srebotnjak represented Ecologic Institute at the largest gathering of statisticians and practitioners of statistics in North America, the Joint Statistical Meetings, which this year took place in the Olympic City of Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Srebotnjak presented a paper on small area estimation of local health effects and risk factors illustrating her modeling and validation framework for the prevalent lack of health care insurance in the US.</p>&#13;

The Directorate-General Trade of the European Commission held its "Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment Stocktaking Conference: Implementing Sustainable Trade" in Brussels on 21-22 March 2006. R. Andreas Kraemer chaired the key first session looking at the extent to which Trade Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) have changed the way the European Union makes trade policy.

In environmental matters, modern society is living at the cost to future generations. This was the main issue discussed at the Young Leaders Congress 2005 "Ecological Generational Justice into the Constitution", which brought together more than 50 participants from all over Europe and beyond. At the event, Ecologic Fellow Markus Knigge chaired a panel discussion with Karsten Sach, Head of the Division for International Affairs in the German Ministry for the Environment, and Manfred Bergman, Head of the Unit for Evaluation of Transport, Environment and Energy in the European Commission, on where we are in achieving ecological generational justice in Europe.