Publications

The EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework offers an opportunity to align funding with competitiveness and resilience goals. The current proposal suggests a weakening of the environmental and climate priorities. This policy brief advocates for a future-oriented MFF that embrasses resilience, climate change, environment and green innovation.

With the new version of "The Handbook on Environmental Value Factors – Methodological Convention 4.0", UBA provides a comprehensive update of its environmental value factors for Greenhouse gases and other pollutants and a number of economic activities. The new handbook replaces the Methodological Convention 3.2. 

In environmental risk assessments for veterinary medicines, FOCUS models are applied to calculate the concentration in groundwater and surface water. The report suggests harmonised input parameters applicable to veterinary medicines and aids in the analysis of results. It also contains a manual for performing FOCUS simulations.

The aim of the project was to validate an extended one-generation reproduction test with zebrafish (ZEOGRT).

The level of ambition of Parties' current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is insufficient to ensure that climate change remains within the internationally agreed limits. One way to close this ambition gap is through Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The EU Taxonomy requires large and capital-market-oriented companies to report on the sustainability of their economic activities. How far this redirects capital flows or changes financing conditions remains unclear. This report outlines approaches to model the Taxonomy’s effectiveness, drawing on modelling from the Pathways project (“Pathways to an EU in 2050 with net-zero GHG emissions”).

This study analyses EU-wide greenhouse gas reduction scenarios for the year 2040. Four scenarios presented by the European Commission, in its Impact Assessment for the 2040 intermediate climate target, are compared against three scenarios developed in the project titled ‘Pathways to an EU in 2050 with net-zero GHG emissions’.

Broad and ambitious climate action is urgently needed since the Paris Agreement’s goals are still out of sight. While globally aligned and joint climate policy measures would be the best solution to avoid carbon leakage, in their absence, alternative measures can address carbon leakage risks. However, they can also result in fragmentation and inefficiencies.

This publication analyses the advantages and disadvantages of carbon credits compared to other financing instruments for protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems. Nine instruments are examined, including emission credits, biodiversity certificates, development cooperation, and blue bonds.

This report examines the risks and opportunities of using carbon crediting mechanisms to fund the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems. It evaluates seven projects registered in the voluntary carbon market, focusing on key challenges related to integrity risks such as additionality, quantification, permanence, safeguards, and double counting.

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) are recognized as important providers of ecosystem services, supporting soil health and key soil functions.

The energy efficiency of lighting technology products has so far been assessed primarily using inadequate parameters (such as luminous flux and luminous efficacy), and only part of the benefits provided by lighting products is taken into account.