Press | Umweltbundesamt

Technologically speaking it is entirely feasible to separate the carbon dioxide (CO2) harmful to the climate from the concentrated flue gases of power plants and to compress them into porous rock or sediment layers under the oceans and seas. Yet can the greenhouse gas be stored permanently and safely without doing damage to the marine environment?  This issue is the focus of a meeting of German an... read more

The EU Chemicals Ordinance REACH goes into the next round as pre-registration begins. REACH requires registration of all chemicals that are on the market in the EU. Manufacturers and importers of chemicals must register products with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and assess the risk they pose to mankind and the environment.  Pre-registration is a sort of taking of stock that provides public... read more

Over the past four decades the volume of nitrogen released into the environment worldwide has tripled-and this trend is set to continue, posing a long-term risk to biological diversity. ”Plants that thrive on nitrogen, e.g. nettles and boysenberries, are crowding out other species. Grassland is growing over entire habitat types adapted to conditions where few nutrients are present (e.g. raised bog... read more

Four and a half percent of all jobs in Germany in 2006 were related to environmental protection, which means almost 1.8 million jobs and a new high.  In 2004 the figure was at 3.8 percent.  Three factors in particular account for this positive development: strong job growth in the renewable energies sector, a rise in exports of German environmental technologies, and additional jobs created in envi... read more

It is now widely acknowledged that the synthetic refrigerants contained in mobile air conditioning systems are doing damage to our climate.  In June, experts at two international congresses in the USA will once again discuss alternatives to the harmful refrigerants now used in air conditioning systems.  In the opinion of the Federal Environment Agency, the most climate-friendly solution is to repl... read more

Our oceans and seas cover about 70 percent of the earth’s surface and, just as do rainforests, play an important role for mankind and the environment. The oceans and seas are a source of food, they regulate Earth’s climate, they harbour phenomenal energy resources, and they are the origin of all life.  Protection of oceans and seas is therefore particularly crucial, and according to the Federal En... read more

As of the 2008 bathing season, Germany’s bathing waters will be monitored according to the new EC Bathing Water Directive.  The new directive requires Member States to rethink any passive forms of monitoring to active management for the sake of better protection of bathers. Thus, a so-called bathing water profile must be established for each body of bathing water which enumerates, among other thin... read more

The reproductive organs of female eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) in the North and Baltic Seas have been damaged, according to tests conducted for the Federal Environmental Specimen Bank (German: UPB) by the Institute for Applied Ecology (IFAE–) on the reproductive organs (gonads) of these seafish.  The UPB has been collecting thousands of environmental and human samples every year since 1985.  The sa... read more