ZEF is part of the new "Climate Information to support integrated Renewable Electricity Generation in West Africa" (CIREG), a research project funded by the European Research Area for Climate Services. ZEF will receive around 400,000 euros for the upcoming three years for its research part. The project is led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Read about our research, outreach and capacity development activities of the past two years in our latest Annual Report. This year's lead article deals with research on bioeconomy in support of sustainable transformation and development.

ZEF has been ranked again by the University of Pennsylvania as one of the top think tanks worldwide. In its 2017 Ranking ZEF was listed in the following categories: Rank 12 at: Top Science and Technology Think Tanks;Rank 19 at: Best University Affiliated Think Tank and Rank 25 at: Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks

Germany's Federal Foreign Office and the DAAD promote sustainable rural transformation with 1.8 million euros: ZEF has initiated and will run the new "West African Center for Sustainable Rural Transformation" to strengthen research and education in development planning, agricultural economics and aspects of renewable energy and irrigated agriculture in Africa.