Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Chemicals, Economy | Consumption, Air

Emission of Flame Retardants from Consumer Products and Building Materials

Since the interior atmosphere represents a major part of the built environment, determining emissions from those sources which influence indoor air quality is of great importance. Recently, interest has been focussed on flame retardants (FR) which have been increasingly used in consumer and building products in combination with a rapid increase in the use of plastics. The aim of the research proje...read more

Economy | Consumption, Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)and current GATS-Negotiations

(General Agreement on Trade in Services - GATS)

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the current GATS negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) require special attention from an environmental policy perspective. The GATS - which is both a trade and an investment agreement – may have potentially far reaching implications, amongst others for domestic policy choices relating to social and environmental objectives. This st...read more

Economy | Consumption

Best Available Techniques in Textile Industry

For preparing this report, the concerned available knowledge in Germany in this field has been collected and documented as far as possible. To this purpose, all relevant experts from textile industries, textile research institutes, suppliers of textile machinery, suppliers of dyestuffs and textile auxiliaries, suppliers of measurement and control equipment, suppliers of environmental technology, a...read more

Climate | Energy, Water

Investigations to avoid and reduce possible impacts of wind energy parks on the marine environment in the offshore areas of North and Baltic Sea -OffshoreWEP-

It can be expected that the benthic communities and the demersal fish fauna will be affected both in the short and medium-term by the construction of wind energy plants, particularly by the dislodging of sediment. To what extent and areal scale, the construction noise will affect the benthos and fish fauna can currently not be answered. read more

Chemicals, Economy | Consumption

Guidance for the use of environmentally sound substances

For producers and professional users of chemical products relevant to the aquatic environment PART ONE

Chemical substances usually serve a specific technical purpose in a product or production process. At the same time, the technical qualities of a substance may be connected with risks to the environment and human health. A particular risk results from the release of long-lived (persistent) and harmful chemicals, which may accumulate in the long run in living organisms or water eco-systems. Such ch...read more

Economy | Consumption

Evolution of commitments under the UNFCCC: Involving newly industrialized economies and developing countries

International negotiations have lead to first steps in combating climate change with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Protocol, industrialized countries have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around five per cent between 2008 and 2012 compared to 1990 levels. It is however broadly recognized that further steps are necess...read more

Chemicals

Methodological problems of assessing the economic impacts of EU chemicals policy

Summary results of the conference of experts at the Umweltbundeamt (Ferderal Environment Agenca) on 6.2.2003

The European Commission has elaborated the principles of a new chemicals policy in Europe in its White Paper on “Strategy for a future Chemicals Policy” (European Commission, 2001). Studies have since been published for Germany and for the EU which look into the potential economic repercussions of future policies on chemicals. These examine very different aspects using different methods and based...read more

Air

Aerosols over Europe. Focus on Black Carbon

Modellierung und Prüfung von Strategien zur Verminderung der Belastung durch Ozon

Based on a first estimate of Black Carbon (BC) emissions over Europe model calculations have been performed to obain BC-concentrations. The model results have a clear tendency to be lower than the observations.read more