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As Germany’s main environmental agency, we provide government employees with a full range of job related information and resources such as Web content, brochures, and conferences. We also offer concrete recommendations and guidelines on matters such as drinking water quality and indoor air quality. And if you’d like to see the government agency you work for aid the cause of environmental protection and use eco-friendly products and green electricity, then you should have a look at our helpful hints, as well as our specimen RFPs.

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Land take: Make goals binding

Aerial view of a small town

An area of 66 hectares of new land is consumed every day in Germany, with severe negative effects on the environment. UBA recommends a fixed quota regime for land and a certificate trading system.

Waste | Resources, Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Deep sea mining: Germany lobbying for high environmental standards

black manganese nodule

The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Germany Environment Agency (UBA) are campaigning for systematic environmental protection in deep sea mining. At an expert workshop event in Berlin, the two authorities made an appeal for a comprehensive assessment of both the chances and risks of future deep sea mining.

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Maritime spatial planning in Russia to protect the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a highly sensitive natural environment

The German Environment Agency, with support from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, supported and advised a three-year Advisory Assistance Project entitled "Environmentally sound concepts of maritime spatial use for the Baltic Sea Area of the Russian Federation".

Air

Air quality 2016: Nitrogen dioxide still the top pollutant

traffic jam in the city

The air in Germany’s cities continued to have excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution in 2016. This is according to an evaluation of preliminary measurements made by the federal states and the German Environment Agency. The threshold value of 40 micrograms per cubic metre on a yearly average was exceeded at about 57 per cent of all the measuring stations located near major thoroughfares.

Climate | Energy

2015 greenhouse gas emissions indicate a slight decrease for second year in a row

Eine Solaranlage auf freien Feld, im Hintergrund drehen sich Windkrafträder

Germany recorded total emissions of 901.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents for 2015, which is 2.3 million tonnes (0.3%) less than in 2014 and 27.9% less than in 1990. This data is based on calculations which the German Environment Agency (UBA) has reported to the European Commission. The greatest reductions were achieved in the energy industries (11.8 million tonnes).

Climate | Energy, Economy | Consumption, Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Pace of environmentally harmful subsidies phase-out continues to falter

Euro bank notes

Environmentally harmful subsidies in Germany continue to be in effect at an excessively high level and now total 57 billion euros, says a recent report by the German Environment Agency (UBA). More than 90 percent of these subsidies are a burden on the climate – and are therefore thwarting Germany's implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Climate | Energy

Climate action: how to reduce emissions even before 2020

wind energy plants on a field

The international community resolved to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. The mitigation activities proposed by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will not be enough to achieve that goal. An UBA report shows how the gap can be narrowed even before 2020, for example with more efficient electrical appliances and through renewable energy support.

Climate | Energy

Electromobility has clear economic advantages

electric car

The goals of the Climate Action Plan can only be achieved through an energy transformation in the transport sector. Electromobility is the most economical of all greenhouse gas-neutral solutions.

Short link: www.uba.de/t86302en