Under the title "Wellbeing and Equity within planetary boundaries" the biannual conference of the International Society of Ecological Economics (ISEE) took place in Reykjavik (Iceland) from 13 until 15 August 2014. Timo Kaphengst from Ecologic Institute presented a paper on "Green Infrastructure as a bridging concept between biodiversity protection and the green economy". In total, Ecologic Institute contributed three official inputs to the ISEE conference. The presentation slides are available for download.

Max Gruenig spoke on 26 June 2014 at a joint meeting of the Farmers and Consumers and Environment Group of the European Economic and Social Committee on the legal Implications of the EU-US Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for the Acquis Communautaire and ENVI relevant sectors. His slides are available for download.

On 6 June 2014, Max Grünig, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the analysis of the environment and development performacen of 21 European countries prepared based on the Commitment to Development Index 2013 by the Center for Global Development at The Centre in Brussels. The draft report is available for download. Comments and feedback are much appreciated.

On 3 June 2014, Max Grünig, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, contributed to an policy dialogue by the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels on the potential impacts of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) under a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US on the environment. Max Grünig presented evidence from past ISDS proceedings, focussing on cases with a direct link to the environment.

At the European Maritime Day in Bremen (EMD) on 20 May Dr. Grit Martinez, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute presented the first results of a multidisciplinary research endeavor on socio-cultural aspects regarding resilience, preparedness and action to risks at European coast. The research is part of the EU FP7 Collaborative project RISC-KIT (Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts-Toolkit, duration 2013-2017).

During the 11th European IFSA Symposium Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, outlined the existing mechanisms for soil protection in general and soil organic matter (soil carbon) specifically. She explained the requirements for better policies to protect soil organic matters. Sandra Naumann chaired the session. The presentation slides are available for download.

On 1 and 2 April 2014, Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow on the Ecologic Institute's legal team, gave two presentations in Brussels on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). She concluded that including ISDS in TTIP would entail incalculable risks for environmental regulation that are not counter-balanced by benefits. She therefore recommended not to include ISDS provisions in TTIP. The presentations are available for download.

Ecologic Institute's Ulf Stein presented first insights of the INTERREG IVb project DROP during the International Conference on Regional Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARR 2014) in Bremen. DROP is trying to enhance the preparedness and resilience of northwestern European regions to periods of drought and water scarcity. In his conclusions he developed messages for the domains of natural science, policy and water management. The presentation slides are available for download.

During the 20th Cairo Climate Talk Dr. Camilla Bausch from Ecologic Institute discussed the results of climate negotiations in Poland, the future international climate regime, and policy options for Egypt. Environment Minister Dr. Leila Rashed Iskander Kamel pointed to promising debates in the ministerial cabinet regarding renewable energy support, as well as the controversial debate over increasing the use of coal.