Buildings are responsible for more than 30% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions from energy. To increase energy and resource efficiency, the EU Renovation Wave sets the target of doubling renovation rates in the next ten years. The EU also presents the Renovation Wave as a countermeasure against energy poverty, which currently impacts around 34 million EU residents. However, EU-level analyses which connect the technical aspects of the plan with socioeconomic criteria that account for energy poverty remain scarce. In this paper, Nora Kögel from Ecologic Institute addresses that gap by investigating the distributional effects of reaching the Renovation Wave’s 2030 goals in the EU27 countries.

Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow in Ecologic Institute's Legal Team, examines in this book how the dispute settlement bodies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have decided non-trade cases. These are cases in which national measures that serve non-trade objectives such as environmental and health protection are under judicial scrutiny.

Ecovillages are change agents as models of sustainable lifestyles implementing structural change and intending a political statement. They are intentional communities with larger settlement structures designed and owned by their inhabitants, oriented to live within ecological boundaries and fulfill their socio-cultural needs of community, autonomy, participation and personal development. This thesis explores a framework that allows assessing their impact on changes to the interlinked elements of the established regime, centering change agents as complex socio-ecological systems and diagnosing barriers and opportunities to overcome the (re)production of unsustainble practices. To approach the complexity of transformation and ecovillages, concepts on multiple levels of change (GEELS 2011), complex socio-ecological systems (OSTROM 2006, POTEETE et al. 2010) and practices-as-entities (SHOVE et al. 2012) are used. It is explored how to integrate the change agent’s valued stable practices that formed institutions (rules, norms, forms of organisation). The transformative impact of a change agent is conceptualised as a process of diffusion (SCHOT et al. 2008) of its innovative socio-ecological (ZAPF 1989, CAULIER-GRICE et al. 2012) practices and institutions. Finally, the case of Ökodorf Sieben Linden is analysed in a mixed-method approach to show the explanatory potential of the developed framework.

The small coarse siliceous substrate dominated highland streams within the ecoregion Kellerwald belong to one the most understudied water systems in Germany. This study provides for the first time a comprehensive integrated ecological characterisation for these streams and adjacent floodplains. The study contributes therefore to the discussion on the methodology of regional river typology and to the development of integrated assessment methods for rivers.

Sustainability and demographic change are very topical themes not only in politics and science, but also in civil society. While they may seem dissimilar at first glance the challenge of social change is paramount in both areas. The thesis addresses the question of how these two issues can be linked to each other and how the implementation of a dynamic simulation model can foster this process. Case study region there is North Frisia in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can be an important source of income for rural inhabitants of Laos. One such NTFP, which has been promoted by the government of Laos, is the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera (L) Vent). This study was performed to understand the factors influencing the commercialisation of paper mulberry bark in Oudomxay province (Northern Laos) and to investigate the potential of the paper mulberry tree as a source of steady income.

This book deals with integrated water management and institutional water regimes in Greece, on a national level and in specific river basins. The book presents the results of the doctoral dissertation of Eleftheria Kampa, Fellow at Ecologic.

Lucha, Christine 2006: Optimisation of the share of renewable energies in electricity systems in the European Union. Cornerstones of an alternative political and institutional scenario. Fachbereich 3: Mathematik / Naturwissenschaften, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz.

Thomas Bosecke critically evaluates coastal protection measures of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea according to an extensive analysis of the biogeographic conditions. He proposes a cautious approach and the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). The proposed solutions are then reviewed for their legal enforceability with regard to land use planning, nature conservation, property rights and different questions concerning regulatory approval.

For several years now, the European energy laws have been in a phase of transformation. Behind the much quoted catchwords liberalisation, privatisation, deregulation and re-regulation lie many more profound, often times even contradictory political, legislative and economic concepts. This is the context in which a functional Single European Market for electricity is to be established.

The dissertation of Ecologic Alumna Kerstin Imbusch deals with policy-making in EU's recent Eastern Enlargement. By comparing the enlargement processes of environmental policy and Home affairs, it shows that EU-actors selected sector-specific approaches to deal with this challenge.

The Doctoral Thesis of Simon Marr, lawyer with Ecologic Legal, has been published. The purpose of this study is to examine the present status of implementation of the precautionary principle in the law of the sea and to extract evidence of its acceptance as part of customary international law. The thesis examines the precautionary principle in the law of the sea. The precautionary principle is a risk management tool for policy makers which has been broadly implemented in international environmental law in a variety of different sectors and formulations.

Homeyer, Ingmar von 2002: Institutional Change and Governance in the European Union: The Case of Biotechnology Regulation. Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence.

Peter Beyer's doctoral thesis focuses on an analysis of the integrated concepts of the Council Directive 96/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC-Directive) and its implementation in the German Federal Emissions Control Act, as well as in the Draft of the German Environmental Code.

"Trade and Environmental Protection" represents a cross-cutting issue area that must be simultaneously handled at different political levels. This book describes and analyses the institutional structures that are necessary for addressing trade and environment issues and indentifies integration strategies. In addition to being relevant to international policy-making, the topic covered in this book also reflects an area of special interest and activity at Ecologic.