25.07.2008

PCF Pilot Project Germany presents three new corporate partners from the wholesale, retail and chemicals sectors

DSM, REWE Group and the Tengelmann Group join dm-drogerie markt, FRoSTA, Henkel, Tchibo, Tetra Pak, and T-Home in a Pilot Project to measure the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) of selected products and services.

Participating firms brought together for PCF Pilot Project Germany by consortium of WWF, the Öko-Institut, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and THEMA1.

In the first project of its kind in Germany, nine businesses are coming together to measure the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases related to selected products and services – the Product Carbon Footprint, or PCF. Overseen by WWF, the Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and THEMA1, the Project will also work towards an international standard methodology for PCF measurement. Furthermore the Project will explore the possibility of communicating PCF to customers and end users, taking into account recent developments in other markets. Discussions are currently underway with stakeholders and existing international initiatives about the methodology and communication requirements developed by the Project's working groups. The Project will then present its preliminary statements on methodology and communication towards the end of 2008. On the basis of these initial results, the partners and participating firms will consider the continuation and expansion of the Project to include other interested companies.

31.01.2006

Quality Criteria for Transdisciplinary Research

A Guide for the Formative Evaluation of Research Projects is now electronically available in English and German

The Evaluation Network for Transdisciplinary Research has spent several years working on the question of how the quality of transdisciplinary research processes can be secured and evaluated. As the central result, the “Guide for the Formative Evaluation of Research Projects” was published in the German language at the end of 2005. The Guide is now also electronically available in English.

01.02.2005

New information service now expanded

As of now, Öko-Institut also provides free E-mail newsletter in detailed English-language version

As of now, the Öko-Institut provides a new information service to an English-speaking readership. The Institute’s free E-mail newsletter is now also available in a detailed English-language version. Presenting selected articles, the newsletter gives a roundup of the current state of environmental research at the Institute’s three sites – Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin.

03.03.2004

Between Standstill and Fresh Awakening – Environmental Policy in the New Europe

International Annual Conference of Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology – on 22 and 23 April in Berlin

On 1 May 2004, ten new countries are due to join the European Union. Doubtlessly European politics will experience change in many respects. But what will be the particular consequences for environmental policy? Is there a risk of standstill or will there be a fresh awakening? Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology, the leading independent environmental research institute – will devote its 2004 annual international conference in Berlin to this theme. The goal of the conference is to highlight environmental policy consequences, identify opportunities and warn of risks.

23.10.2003

Emissions trading has many advantages but should not be the only policy instrument / Institute is now developing the bases for the National Allocation Plan

Emissions trading has many advantages as a global climate policy instrument. Nonetheless, the Institute considers that it should not be the only instrument deployed to cut harmful carbon dioxide emissions and thus reduce negative environmental impacts. Dr. Felix Christian Matthes, the Institute’s energy expert at its Berlin office, shares this view, stating that: “It will be essential to deploy a mix of climate policy instruments in future”. He is thinking in particular of targeted innovation and technology promotion, using, for instance, Germany’s Renewable Energy Act. He also points out the need to provide sound justifications for such measures if cross-cutting climate policy instruments such as emissions trading are introduced and prove effective.