Ecologic Institute is preparing an assessment report on “Technological options for reducing plastic waste in the oceans”. The report will provide a systematic overview of technologies designed to remove plastic waste from water bodies. The analysis will evaluate technical, ecological and economic aspects as well as risks and benefits. The report will present the current state of knowledge in a concise and scientifically robust manner, identify gaps in knowledge and provide a basis for informed decisions.

The aim of the project is to obtain as accurate an overview as possible of the ecosystems in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea before the start of intensive human use. This will support the development of a scientific basis for decision-making that will enable the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the North Sea and Baltic Sea authorities to identify the need for political action to establish specific marine protected areas, to reintroduce projects in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea and to initiate appropriate measures.

The aim of the project is to support the promotion of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in tropical and subtropical coastal regions. This is to be achieved by strengthening the technical information base, promoting the international exchange of experience and developing and communicating policy- and implementation-oriented recommendations for action to decision-makers.

Ecologic Institute supports the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV) in preparing the ratification of the so-called BBNJ Agreement and the related German implementing laws. The BBNJ Agreement of June 2023 is a UN treaty and the first multilateral legal framework for the protection of biodiversity on the high seas. Ecologic Institute identifies the obligations for Germany and which of them require new legislation, and drafts legal proposals for implementing provisions.

The aim of this project is to compile an up-to-date overview of existing scientific studies on the economic valuation of marine ecosystems and their services, as well as on the environmental impacts of the oceans. The aim is to go beyond the consideration of short-term "provisioning services", both in terms of the ecosystem services recorded and in terms of geographical coverage.

The Plastic Pirates start a new small project in the autumn of 2024. The new focus this time: the river system of the Danube! The second-longest river of Europe, stretching over 2.850 kilometers, starts in the Black Forrest, and flows through a total of 10 countries before emptying in the Black Sea. The river system includes many important tributaries, for example the Isar, Inn and Lech. The new project focused on the Danube is an addition to the ongoing analysis of the Elbe River System and the German coasts. Gaining further insights in plastic pollution of these water bodies will be the aim of the Plastic Pirates’ 2024 autumn campaign period.

The project aims to quantitatively assess the carbon storage potential of the North Sea and Baltic Sea in good environmental status according to the MSFD and in good ecological status according to the WFD. This assessment will provide clear recommendations on how natural climate protection in the seas can be improved and whether the current targets are sufficient from a climate protection perspective.  

Since 2016, young people have been successfully researching and mapping plastic pollution in and around rivers in Germany. Now the expeditions are going into a new round: In the project "Plastic Pirates – German coast", school classes and youth groups search for plastic waste on the coasts and the river system of the Elbe – including its tributaries such as the Havel, Mulde or Saale.

The Ecologic Institute, part of a pan-European consortium, is implementing the "Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters" support platform for the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) and the European Commission, aiming to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems, prevent pollution, and promote a sustainable blue economy, which includes designing and managing the EU Blue Parks Community support services and contributing to the development of mission indicators.

Unsustainable use of the oceans and their resources leads to severe problems, like depletion of fish stocks, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation and increased pollution, among other negative impacts. With a scoping study, awarded by the European Environment Agency (EEA), Ecologic Institute, together with Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), analyses the potential of the blue bioeconomy to become more sustainable by transforming to more sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

The aim of the project, in short: 'Resilience and Climate Adaptation for North and Baltic Sea', is to develop concrete, cross-sectoral proposals for measures to strengthen marine protection and climate change adaptation. These proposals are to build on the field of action "Seas and Coasts" in the German Adaptation Strategy (DAS) and the Adaptation Action Plan and support the German government's planned marine strategy. Furthermore, the project is fundamentally intended to promote cross-sectoral dialogue on marine protection and climate change adaptation at national, European and regional level.

Climateurope2 is a 4.5-year Horizon Europe project that addresses the need for timely delivery and effective use of climate information. The project aims to support the climate services community and propose standardisation procedures for future equitable and quality-assured climate services, useful for decision making in all sectors of society.

Effective marine environmental management and biodiversity conservation (including protection and restoration) are fundamental to achieving the transformation to a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive low-carbon sustainable ocean economy. MarineSABRES' simple SES approach aims to show how we can protect and maintain the natural structure and processes of marine ecosystems while simultaneously delivering the societal goods and benefits that people rely on. The approach specifically aims to improve uptake of EBM and strengthen interventions and measures for the conservation of coastal and marine areas.

This project supports DG RTD in developing a comprehensive Baseline for the lighthouses of the Atlantic/Arctic sea basin, Danube river basin and Mediterranean Sea basin of the Mission 'Restore our ocean and waters by 2030'. Specific activities include mapping lighthouse area relevant stakeholders, networks, governance structures and citizen engagement, as well as past, planned and ongoing projects relevant for the Mission objectives.

The "Development Plan for the Sea – Strategy for an Integrated German Maritime Policy" was published back in 2011 and has so far set the framework for all sea-related policies in Germany. An integrated maritime policy encompasses all facets of sea-based activities across different sectors. Basically, they can be summarised in the three sustainability pillars 'ecology, economy, and social'. A comprehensive evaluation of Germany's integrated maritime policy has not yet taken place due to the lack of a compilation of appropriate indicators for assessment. The project 'Indicators of an Integrated German Maritime Policy' aims to close this gap.

The Arctic Winter College was a series of weekly webinars, featuring diverse experts and hosted by organizer Victoria Herrmann (President and Managing Director of The Arctic Institute). It focused on the theme "Arctic on the Move." The class schedule featured 20 great researchers, policy practitioners, and Traditional Knowledge holders.

The aim of this project is to develop and test a methodology to assess the management effectiveness of marine Natura 2000 sites and other EU MPAs, in the context of obligations under the Birds and Habitats Directives and commitments under the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030. This methodology will build on experiences and methods used in the Natura 2000 network and other MPAs, as well as on any other available efforts in developing new systems that can be applied to the European context.

Estuaries are under considerable human pressure from river basin inputs and direct sources of pollution from ports and industrial sites. In addition, there are countless human activities, including cargo shipping, tourism, trade and fishing. Climate change also results in longer periods of heat and oxygen deficiency, which have a negative impact on the ecosystem. In this diverse range of pressures, clear, science-led and sustainable management is a challenge.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

The UNITED project provides evidence by means of pilot demonstrators that the development of multi-use platforms or co-location of different activities in a marine and ocean space is a viable approach (economically, socially and environmentally) for European maritime industry and local ecosystems. The economic and environmental benefits of multiple use of the marine and ocean space include the possibility of increasing resource efficiency by sharing infrastructure and logistics. However, the practicability of multiple use depends on a variety of factors, which the UNITED project is seeking to address through five pillars: Technology, economy, environment, society and legal/policy/governance/.

The European Ocean Coalition (EU4Ocean) connects diverse organisations, projects and people that contribute to ocean literacy and the sustainable management of the ocean. Supported by the European Commission, this bottom-up inclusive initiative aims at uniting the voices of Europeans to make the ocean a concern of everyone!

The consequences of climate change are much more visible in the Arctic than in other regions of the world. The increasing loss of sea ice allows to use parts of the Arctic Ocean for a longer time and more intensively than before. This could threaten biodiversity in the polar region critically. Ecologic Institute and its partners are analyzing how a network of marine protected areas in the region could help to conserve marine biodiversity and ensure the functioning of marine ecosystems and their effective management.

The aim of the project participants is to provide the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) with scientific support in communicating the results of the IPCC Special Reports on "Climate Change and Land" (SRCCL) and "The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate" (SROCC). This is achieved by preparing the contents of the special reports by means of core messages, explanatory texts and presentations in webinars.

Since 2017, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has been operating the Internet platform of the Round Table on Marine Litter at www.muell-im-meer.de. The main objective of the platform is to provide organisational support for the German Roundtable on Marine Litter and its working groups, in particular by providing a password-protected member area. In addition, the public part of the platform serves public relations work and the bundling of information on marine litter. In this project the Ecologic Institute is responsible for the further development, relaunch, operation, technical maintenance and hosting of the internet platform. Ecologic Institute is creating and implementing a development guide on structural and functional changes for the internet platform.

The aim of the project is to provide technical support and assistance for the tasks of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in implementing the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the necessary cooperation on a regional, national and EU level. As a subsidiary authority of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), UBA plays a leading or lead role in the corresponding committees of the cooperation structures for all MSFD action areas (monitoring, assessment, quality and environmental objectives, measures) and EU reporting (electronic reporting, INSPIRE-compliant data provision).

Ecologic Institute is member of the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) which works with the European Environment Agency (EEA) under a Framework Partnership Agreement for the period from 2019 to 2021.

The aim of the project was to develop a study "Ocean as a Global Commons: International Governance and the Role of Germany" at the request of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) as part of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 (Wissenschaftsplattform Nachhaltigkeit 2030). The study provides an overview of the different governance mechanisms in regard to the Global Commons "Oceans" area.

Plastic pollution of the world's oceans is a quickly growing environmental problem. A number of international instruments and treaties are trying to address the problem, but the growing amount of plastic waste that is polluting our seas shows these are insufficient. On behalf of WWF, the project team from adelphi and Ecologic Institute thus compiled a report on gaps in global plastic governance and developed options for the design of a legally binding agreement to eliminate further marine plastic pollution.

Ecologic Institute supports the Horizon 2020 project "Arctic Research Icebreaker Consortium" (ARICE) with Arne Riedel as an Ethics advisor.