<p>&#13; From 30 August to 5 September 2009, the Foundation of German Business in cooperation with RWE organized a week-long summer academy for its scholarship holders on the present and future systems of energy supply. Benjamin Görlach, economist at Ecologic, gave a presentation on past experiences with, the current state of and the future outlook on the European Emissions Trading Scheme, one of the major EU climate policy instruments.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; "Options and Opportunities for the future EU Sustainable Development Strategy" was the theme of the ESDN Conference 2009 in Prague on 17-19 June 2009, hosted by the Czech EU Presidency in cooperation with the Swedish EU Presidency.  Ecologic Institute contributed a background paper, and R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute was invited to speak on "Economic Stimulus Packages in Europe", and comment on the coherence of policy strategies in Europe and the challenges of policy integration.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; On behalf of the WWF, Ecologic Institute researched how middle and long term climate change goals could best be anchored in German law. At a Parliamentary Evening of the WWF on June 17th, Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the expert report. Its results were discussed afterwards in a debate including the members of Parliament Eva Bulling-Schröter (Die Linke), Michael Kauch (FDP), Ulrich Kelber (SPD), Sylvia Kotting-Uhl (Bündnis 90/Grüne) and Prof. Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf (PIK). The Moderator was Regine Günther (WWF).</p>

<p>&#13; Nicole Kranz, Senior Fellow with Ecologic, recently spoke about European Water Governance at the H2Ontario Symposium on Integrated Water Management held on 21 and 22 May in Toronto, Ontario. The Symposium was aimed at discussing current approaches to Integrated Water Management in Canada as well as internationally and determining the way forward for current approaches underway in the Ontario Province.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; In this presentation Ecologic Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer provided an analytical overview of EU environmental governance from the early 1970s up to the present. He argued that EU environmental governance can be described as an amalgam of four to five environmental governance regimes which have successively been layered on top of each other over the past 35 years.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; Are the levels of cost recovery, investment and financing sufficient to ensure affordable access to freshwater and sanitation services?</p>&#13;

At the International Scientific Congress “Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges &amp; Decisions”, experts presented a summary of scientific findings since the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment. The congress attracted broad international attention in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen in December 2009. In the session entitled “Integrating Climate Change into Global Sustainability”, Sandra Cavalieri presented transatlantic and international policy options to protect the Arctic marine environment that had emerged from the Arctic TRANSFORM project.

<p>&#13; Emissions trading systems emerging in the United States offer the opportunity of a future trading link to the European carbon market. While such a link promises more efficient allocation of resources in a larger and more liquid market, differences in the design of trading systems can undermine the effectiveness of the linked trading systems. In a presentation at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Michael Mehling and Jason Anderson provided legislators and their staff with an update of recent policy developments in the US and identified the prospects of an eventual market link across the Atlantic. This presentation and a series of commissioned background studies helped brief EU parliamentarians visiting the US in 2009.</p>&#13; <p>&#13; </p>

<p> In view of rising food and energy prices with impacts on vulnerable groups of society, the European Commission (DG Employment) convened a conference in Brussels on 24 February 2009 on social impacts of sustainable development, and policies aimed at making production and consumption more sustainable.&nbsp; R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute presented the success case of the German ecological tax reform, which creates jobs, helps stabilise social security systems, and induces improvements in energy efficiency and structural change.</p>

<p>&#13; In the run up to the NATO Summit in Strasbourg-Kehl in April 2009, NATO Public Diplomacy Division and Carnegie Europe launched a discussion on "The Next Generation of Security Threats" and the reprogramming of NATO. They invited R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute to provide keynote commentary on the question: "Should Climate Change be a Priority?" at the inaugural event of a new series.</p>&#13;

<p> The need to better understand and monitor the linkages between social exclusion and unsustainable development, and the quest for a toolkit to assess the social impacts of environment policy measures, the European Commission (DG Employment) convened a workshop for scientific support for promoting social fairness in sustainable development in Brussels on 23 February 2009.&nbsp; R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute was invited to speak on social exclusion and a poor environment.</p>

<p>&#13; At the EnergyAgency.NRW expert conference on future energies, expert speakers addressed the subject of efficient energy generation, especially regarding biomass, energy storage, geothermal energy, wind energy research and power plant technology. Aaron Best, Ecologic Senior Fellow, spoke in the opening plenary session, highlighting the nascent energy and climate policies of the new Obama administration.</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; In the wake of the financial and economic crises of 2008, the role of public policy in promoting a shift towards low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency and renewable energies is reassessed.  On 29 October 2008, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Sustainable Prosperity, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) hosted a Canadian-German Dialogue in Ottawa, Ontario, on "Business, Environment, and Energy" and invited Hans-Joachim Ziesing of Ecologic to address the question "Government Policy: Helping or Hindering Sustainable Growth in the New Energy Economy?"</p>&#13;

<p>The exchange of experiences related to the treatment and reuse of wastewater in the Mediterranean region and Europe was the purpose of the INNOVA-Med capacity building course in Ismailia, Egypt. Cornelius Laaser, Researcher at Ecologic, presented precautionary and mitigation measures in agricultural wastewater reuse, based on a case study from Wolfsburg, Germany.</p>

<p>&#13; Against a backdrop of increasing scarcity of and potential conflict over fossile energy resources, and a reassessment of the impact of climate change on national or collective security, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Washington DC, and the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (AIGS) convened a Roundtable on Transatlantic Energy Security in Washington DC on 2 December 2008.  Camilla Bausch of Ecologic and Neil Brown, Special Advisor on Energy and Environment to Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) provided the introduction and set the theme for the event.</p>&#13;