Publications

This report analyses and classifies the prevailing and emerging supply chain management practices for environmental protection in the supply chains of cotton, tin, natural rubber, coffee and iron ore/steel. To provide the background for this analysis, it contains an inventory of operational approaches to and instruments for sustainable supply chain management at the company level.

This report presents the results of a research project that investigated the influence of noise from air source heat pumps and air conditioners on sleep quality, daytime functioning and mood in two laboratory studies. It was found that typical noises from air-source heat pumps and air conditioners can affect sleep, concentration and mood in more than 40 test subjects.

Biocides are used against various harmful organisms and can pose a potential risk to the environment. Risk mitigation measures provide necessary information on how to use biocidal products safely, especially for consumers products.

Energy and transport poverty and vulnerability are a central building block in the debate around many energy and climate policy issues and have gained firm hold in EU directives, regulations and documents.

SRM is supposed to mask global warming by enhancing the earth’s albedo, for example by stratospheric aerosol injection. Thus altering the whole climate system, SRM would impact most areas of life. The risks for geopolitics, mitigation deterrence, ecosystems, justice, food security and water availability are illustrated in this graphic.

The study provides an up-to-date database on food waste in Germany for the 2020 reporting year as part of mandatory EU reporting. Food waste was determined in all five stages of the food chain. The methodology is based on the disposal of waste. The data is based on official waste statistics.

The new version of the UBA Handbook on Environmental Value Factors – the „Methodological Convention 3.2” – contains a partial update of the monetized environmental impacts published in the “Methodological Convention 3.1”, based on new value factors for greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.

With the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), adopted in 2024, the EU established a voluntary framework for carbon removal certification, which includes criteria for the certification of removals, rules for the certification process and the recognition of certification schemes.

Robust quantification of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) lies at the heart of any certification mechanism and is central for their functionality and environmental integrity. For the establishment of a Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) that was recently adopted, the EU Commission is currently conducting an inventory of the existing knowledge base.

Since 2016, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has regularly published a report on the situation regarding the use of natural resources in Germany.

The ‘DigitalRessourcen’ research project analysed the resource intensity and greenhouse gas emissions of the digital transformation in Germany at both micro and macro level. The resource intensity of digital applications was calculated in ten case studies (micro level) using LCA methodology.

As a Party to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (⁠UNFCCC⁠), since 1994 Germany has been obliged to prepare, publish and regularly update national emission inventories of greenhouse gases.