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Energy

Energy

The climate crisis threatens the very foundation of modern society. To avert it, the global economy needs to fully decarbonize within a generation. In this formidable challenge, energy consumption takes center stage as power plants, vehicles, and buildings generate the majority of EU emissions. Mature low-carbon technologies and practices exist, but they require new regulation and incentives to be scaled up successfully. Ecologic Institute's research focuses on building a framework for energy sector decarbonization.

Using its skills in legal, economic, and indicator-based analysis, the energy team assesses and designs effective energy policies at all government levels. To this end, we regularly debate solutions with relevant practitioners and stakeholders. A central research area is EU energy regulation and its interaction with the German energy transition.

The team's expertise includes renewable energy and efficiency, electricity market design, the coal exit, and sector coupling, i.e. at the interface between power, transport, and heating. Our legal work focuses on EU energy law and its transposition into national law and the legal challenges arising from digitalization.

Capacity building and education on the energy transition is another cornerstone of our work. Only with a wider understanding of the need for change and its implications for each single household will countries succeed in transforming their energy sectors.

In interdisciplinary projects, the energy team also studies nexus issues, including on questions related the resource needs of the energy transition or interlinkages between energy measures and needs to adapt to climate change.

Energy

Trade

Climate

Evaluation

Finance

Education

Benjamin Görlach
Head, Economics and Policy Assessment
Senior Fellow

Environmental Law – Ecologic Legal

Energy

Climate

Digitalization

Education

Plastics

Dr. Stephan Sina
Senior Fellow
Coordinating In-house Counsel
Selected Projects for Energy
In the research programme "Smart Energy Showcases - Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition" (SINTEG), over 300 research institutions and companies in five model regions are developing new solutions for a completely renewable energy system. Ecologic Institute is part o... Read more
Mabel Amber | Pixabay.com
Without a thorough transformation in the transport sector, the energy transition will not succeed. On the one hand, emissions caused by mobility must be significantly reduced. On the other hand, the two sectors of transport and energy need to be linked. Lower Saxony, wh... Read more
Wikimedia © Christoffer Riemer
The decarbonization of the German energy system, the so-called German "Energiewende," was officially adopted with the introduction of the "Energy Concept" of September 2010 and the energy policy decisions of June 2011. These decisions foresee the dev... Read more
|Fotolia © Chungking
Europe's energy sector transformation is now well on its way. Yet, to reach the EU's ambitious decarbonisation target for 2050, more fundamental changes will be required in the energy and transport system after 2020. To provide a solid basis for decision-makers,... Read more
From June 2018 to the end of January 2019, the Commission on "Growth, Structural Change and Employment" met as an independent body comprised of covering a broad cross-section of social, political and economic actors. As per its mandate from the German Federal ... Read more
| Fotolia © PixMedia
The increased importance of renewable energy for the electricity sector in the context of the energy transition ("Energiewende") requires that the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) be made more consistent with the Energy Act (EnWG). On behalf of the Federal Ministry ... Read more
| Fotolia © tomas
The pending transformation of the German and European electricity system resulting from rising shares of renewable energy is triggering new technical requirements for both electricity producers and consumers. These requirements include "network codes", bodies ... Read more
| © Ecologic Institut
Infrastructure systems are undergoing a process of profound transformation. They are under great pressure to change in order to contribute to changing social objectives. Expectations and challenges with regard to climate adaptation and climate protection, the circular e... Read more
All projects on Energy
Selected Publications for Energy
The introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) is one way to significantly reduce emissions from cars — if combined with a transition to a renewable electricity system — thus helping countries meet their climate and air quality goals. Numerous governments aroun... Read more

Velten, Eike Karola, Stoll, Theresa; Meinecke, Lisa (2019): Measures for the promotion of electric vehicles. Ecologic Institute, Berlin. Commissioned by Greenpeace e.V.

A report by Ecologic Institute and Climact shows that the draft National Energy and Climate Plans presented by governments at the start of 2019 are in acute need of improvement. They suffer from inadequate targets and insufficient details on the policies and financing n... Read more

Duwe, Matthias; Eike Karola Velten, Nick Evans, Mona Freundt, Julien Pestiaux, Benoît Martin, Pascal Vermeulen (2019): Planning for net-zero: Assessing the Draft National Energy and Climate Plans. Berlin, Louvain-la-Neuve, Bruessels.

In January 2019, Germany made a big step towards a coal phase-out: A stakeholder commission established by the federal government agreed on a schedule for plant retirement and on measures to support coal regions. For experts and journalists seeking to understand the con... Read more

German Institute for Economic Research, Wuppertal Institute, Ecologic Institute (eds.) 2019: Phasing out Coal in the German Energy Sector. Interdependencies, Challenges and Potential Solutions.

Which trends and developments characterise the energy system in the overlapping phases of change of the energy transition? Which opportunities and also which risks are borne by digital technologies and data-based business models in view of an ecologically oriented energ... Read more

Lucha, Christine and Lisa Meinecke 2019: Alte Energiewelt – Neue Energiewelt. Trends und Akteure in einem zunehmend digitalen Energiesystem. böll.brief GRÜNE ORDNUNGSPOLITIK #9. Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

In challenging times, the EU is discussing how to reform its energy and climate policy for the period after 2020. The short study "Energiewende as a European project" looks at the negotiations on the Clean Energy package from a German perspective. Katharina Umpfenbach f... Read more

Umpfenbach, Katharina (2017): Die Energiewende als europäisches Projekt. Chancen, Reibungspunkte [Energy transition as a European project]. Study commissioned by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

On 7 October 2019, Eurostat published its most recent flagship publication "Smarter, greener, more inclusive?". The report assesses the EU's progress in implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. Commissioned by Eurostat, Katharina Umpfenbach and Amely Gundlac... Read more

Anna Sabadash et al. 2019: Smarter, greener, more inclusive? – Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

All publications on Energy
Selected Events for Energy
Bundesumweltministerin Svenja Schulze | Foto: Stefan Röhl
The final event of the dialogue forum "Wirtschaft macht Klimaschutz" took place on 11 March 2020 at the Turbinenhalle in Berlin. Over the past two years, representatives from more than 100 companies have jointly developed ideas, projects and concrete steps to... Read more
In response to Brexit, the EU has initiated a process of self-reflection and, if necessary, reform - the so-called Bratislava Process or the Process of the Future of Europe. As a contribution to this process, the Ecologic Institute explored with different partners how c... Read more
From 22 to 28 September 2019, the Energy Future Exchange (EFEX) Program invites civil society leaders from the EU and US to join the EFEX Study Tour and experience the Future of Energy. The EFEX tour itinerary includes meetings and site visits in Belgium and the Nether... Read more

Visitors Program:Hands-on the Future of Energy with the EFEX Study Tour 2019

Date
22 - 28 September 2019
Organizer
All events on Energy
Selected Presentations for Energy
© Christos Georghiou | Fotolia.com
Ecologic Institute was asked by IASS to give a lecture on "Legal aspects of big data in the energy sector" at the ENavi Summer School 2019 on Digitalisation in the Energy Transition. Its participants consisted of persons with a strong interest in sustainabilit... Read more
All presentations on Energy