Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Climate | Energy

Background Paper: Key mitigation options to close the global 2030 ambition and action gap

Staying within the limit of the Paris Agreement of 1.5 °C global warming requires closing the global 2030 ambition and action gap arising from insufficient current policies and contributions. G20 countries have a crucial role to play in realising increased climate policy ambition, given their strong economic and political influence as well as their high share in global greenhouse gas emissions. Th...read more

Water

Environmental Protection in Maritime Traffic – Scrubber Wash Water Survey

Discharge water samples from Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS, scrubbers) were taken on board of ships and analyzed in terms of heavy metals and PAKs. The distribution of wash water and potential concentration of pollutants were simulated with a dispersion model for the North- and Baltic Sea. Results showed increased pollutant concentrations, especially in the closed-loop EGCS waters, and that t...read more

Air

The Ozone Situation in Germany

State of knowledge, research gaps and recommendations

The threat to human health and vegetation by ozone is still an important topic in politics, science and the public in Germany. A workshop organized by the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam) addressed this issue. Experts discussed the current state of knowledge on processes relevant for ozone, the need for improvement con...read more

Chemicals

Do new generations of active pharmaceuticals for human use require an adaption of the environmental risk assessment?, Part I: Literature review

Since 2006, various new active pharmaceutical ingredients have been developed with highly specific mechanisms of action. That raise the question of whether current environmental risk assessment within the scope of the authorization is still sufficient to appropriately assess relevant effects on environmental organisms. In this literature review the scientific basis for a tailored risk assessment w...read more

Chemicals

Advancing REACH - REACH and sustainable chemistry

Sustainable chemistry contributes to positive, long-term sustainable development. Chemicals regulations such as ⁠REACH⁠ can support several aspects of sustainable chemistry. The report gives a systematic analysis on the relations between main elements of REACH (e.g. Registration or Information in the supply chain) and main elements of sustainable chemistry (e.g. substitution of hazar...read more

Chemicals

2nd EU Workshop on Non-Chemical Alternatives for Rodent Control (NoCheRo)

Report on the 2nd NoCheRo Workshop (Brussels, 05th February 2020)

In February 2020, the European Commission and the German Environment Agency organized the 2. workshop on non-chemical alternatives in rodent control (NoCheRo). At the workshop, a draft guidance for testing efficacy and animal welfare of rodent break back/snap traps was presented to representatives from the EU Member States authorities on biocides, the European Commission, the scientific community,...read more

Climate | Energy

Submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol 2020

National Inventory Report for the German Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 – 2018

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. Pursuant to Decision 24/CP.19, all Parties listed in ANNEX I of the UNFCCC are required to prepare and submit annual National Inventory Reports (NIRs) containing detailed and complete information on th...read more

Waste | Resources

Effectively tackling the issue of millions of vehicles with unknown whereabouts

European priority measure: establishing leakage-proof vehicle registration systems

In 2020, the EU Commission is evaluating and subsequently revising the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive 2000/53/EC. When it comes to ELV recycling, the issue of unknown whereabouts of vehicles is the most crucial aspect to be solved. In a Scientific Opinion Paper, the German Environment Agency (UBA) outlines the negative impacts of the unknown whereabouts and presents recommendations to preven...read more