Press | Umweltbundesamt

Old wood-fired furnaces and boilers are the source of significant emissions of particulates and many other pollutants harmful to health. Therefore new thresholds for dust and carbon monoxide emissions from old wood-fired boilers and furnaces came into effect on 1 January 2015. read more

The first President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Heinrich Freiherr (Baron) von Lersner died on Tuesday, 26 August 2014 in Berlin. Lersner, born on 14 July 1930 in Stuttgart, headed the UBA for 21 years. read more

Germany is a major importer of waste. The reason is that German waste technologies are very advanced, and for some materials, the best disposal processes are here. read more

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has encouraged cities and municipalities to make it easier to switch from automobiles to e-cycles. "E-cycles, that is bicycles driven by electric motors, require less space than cars and are considerably cheaper. read more

New performance standards for vacuum cleaners become effective on 1 September 2014. The devices must consume less power and be built more robustly. read more

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is pressing for speedy regulation of fracking technology. "Fracking remains a risk technology", said UBA President Maria Krautzberger on the occasion of the presentation of UBA's new, 600-page export Fracking II report in Berlin. read more

The waterproofed layer of weatherproof functional jackets releases environmentally harmful chemicals which contain fluoride. These chemicals are put into the environment, for example by washing. Waste water treatment facilities cannot degrade these chemicals, and thus they are released into rivers, seas and groundwater, and ultimately accumulate in the bodies of humans and animals. The Federal Env... read more

North-East Atlantic countries adopt regional action plan read more