Ecologic Institute designed and developed the project website "Circular Textiles" within the networking and transfer project of the funding program "Resource-efficient circular economy – circular sustainable textiles: development of holistic, practical solutions for closing loops in the textile industry". The website provides an overview of all funded joint projects. It also contains information on the projects and events, as well as news from the networking and transfer project.
This policy brief outlines recommendations for sustainable and socially accepted subsoil management in Germany. Subsoil, located below the plowed topsoil layer, holds essential nutrients and water reserves crucial for plant growth and sustainable bioeconomy practices. The Soil³ project (2015–2025) investigated methods to enhance subsoil usage, focusing on increasing plant root access to this layer without compromising its ecological functions.
This report analyzes documents and formats focusing on resource efficiency, resource conservation and the circular economy at the German, European and international level. It outlines significant developments and expected trends in resource policy and identifies research needs. Given the rapid increase in global resource use, driven by population growth and economic expansion, the transition to a resource-efficient and circular economy is a key challenge. This need is reinforced by various global crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and increasing resource dependency. The report emphasizes that innovative and effective policies are needed at both national and international levels to promote and implement this transition.
This final report provides an analysis of the innovation and dissemination processes of infrastructure solutions that aim to increase sustainability and resilience. The research was conducted as part of the TRAFIS II project.
In this episode of "Green Deal – Big Deal?", we tackle the complex world of natural resources, a topic that underpins many aspects of Europe's ambition for a green future. In conversation with guests Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of European Commission’s DG Environment, and Janez Potočnik, Co-chair of the International Resources Panel, hosts Ewa Iwaszuk and Aaron Best discuss how the use of natural resources is closely linked to the climate and biodiversity crises, highlighting the global nature of resource use and its impacts.
In the article "Lang lebe der Rohstoff" (available in German), Susanne Langsdorf provides an overview of Germany's use of raw materials, its dependence on sometimes problematic trading partners and what tools Germany has to reduce this.
A more sustainable use of resources is possible. There is a wide range of measures available to reduce consumption - but there is a lack of implementation.
How can companies and societies effectively design the shift towards greater sustainability? This policy brief highlights the importance of sustainable production methods, investments, and nature-positive supply chains for the restoration of ecosystems and outlines action approaches for a sustainable future.
This report provides an independent, systematic analysis of the structures, activities, and impacts of Germany’s Energy, Climate, Development, and Raw Materials Partnerships (ECDRPs). A particular focus lies on the partnerships with countries of the Global South. Based on the analysis, the report provides recommendations for the development of Germany’s partnerships by answering the central question: How can Germany's ECDRPs be made as impactful as possible and more transformative for a resilient transition towards climate neutrality in Germany and its partner countries?
This report analyzes how innovative, sustainable infrastructure solutions can be successfully disseminated through specific mechanisms and under certain conditions. It emphasizes the importance of cooperative networks and suitable framework conditions for the dissemination of innovations at municipal and regional level.
The evaluation of the municipal networks for the period 2018 to 2021 is now published and available for download. 28 projects were funded with Euro 5.66 million, and municipalities contributed almost Euro 3.8 Mio. own revenue for the networking activities. Over the evaluation period, the networks contributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 69.2 thousand tonnes of CO2.
This article illustrates the communication strategies that were successfully applied in the citizen science program Plastic Pirates in Germany. The program engages schoolchildren, teachers and youth groups in plastic pollution research. A variety of communication strategies have been implemented and continuously revised and adapted since the start of the program in 2016.
This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2010 and 2020, with a supplementary presentation for the year 2021, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik"), as well as statistics from the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. Additionally, the publication contains data on administrative offences relating to the trafficking of protected species. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.
This report analyses how a circular economy can contribute to halting biodiversity loss. It concludes that while circular economy measures (directly and indirectly) contribute to meeting biodiversity and climate strategic objectives, the combination with biodiversity-friendly sourcing is crucial in order to halt biodiversity loss.
This paper addresses a gap by providing a conceptual basis to further the understanding of security implications of the EU’s transformation to a net-zero economy. It first defines the aspects of security under consideration (Section 2) and proposes a typology to classify fossil fuel exporting countries based on their exposure to world market prices, their capacity to adjust and their importance to the EU in terms of security issues (Section 3). It then takes stock of policy options that can be adopted in other countries to reduce adjustment costs to a changed economic environment (Section 4) and discusses how the EU can support these policies (Section 5). Finally, it highlights key implications for EU policy makers (Section 6).
This blog post shows why the EU Renovation Wave should link environmental and social issues. EU member states are currently facing three crises: the climate crisis, an energy security crisis and a social crisis. The EU Renovation Wave has a key role in responding to all three crises. However, it can only fulfill this key role if the implementation of the renovation wave is socially fair.
Almost one third of all packaging in Germany is so-called transport packaging, which becomes waste after its single use. Despite the factual relevance of this packaging group, it is strongly underrepresented in the public perception as well as in the political discourse. During the online expert dialogue "Reusable Transport Packaging" on 27 February 2023, good examples from practice were presented and potentials, challenges and necessary elements for the expansion of reusable transport packaging were discussed together with experts from trade, logistics industry, civil society and politics. The summary is available for download.
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 political scientist's point of view on key issues currently under discussion regarding the implementation of a circular plastics economy.