Publications

Germany is an industrialised country with a strong production and export sector in the heart of Europe. However, German industry is dependent to varying degrees on imports of energy sources, raw materials and semi-finished products.

The research project explores how carbon market approaches under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement can contribute to the transformational change required by these global agreements. The project names insights and recommendations for how to design and implement Article 6 rules and activities to promote transformational change through carbon markets.

Endocrine active substances such as steroid hormones gain increasing focus in environmental research as they cause endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations. Data about occurrence and fate of steroid hormones are scare.

Environmental research is detecting ever more pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment as analytical methods become increasingly sensitive. The physicochemical properties of some active substances suggest an accumulation in sediment, suspended matter and biota. Hence, these matrices could be interesting alternative matrices for monitoring of pharmaceutical residues in surface waters.

Nicht-chemische Methoden sind wichtige Werkzeuge zur gebotenen Reduzierung des Biozideinsatzes. Mit dem Projekt werden Maßnahmen zur Förderung von biozidfreien Alternativen beschrieben. Dazu gehören Konzepte für spezifische App-Entwicklungen, die Analyse bestehender Umweltlabel hinsichtlich ihrer Vergabekriterien mit Biozidbezug.

Trifluoroacetate (TFA) is a mobile and persistent substance that is primarily introduced into the water cycle through the degradation of various fluorochemicals and remains in the environment in the long term. TFA can be detected in many water bodies in relatively high concentrations with some regional hotspots.

The GLI:X Green Logistics Indicators project has been established over several stages since 2016. Together with the province of Gauteng in South Africa, the project has succeeded in developing an indicator system for the measurability of green, socially responsible, and efficient freight logistics in the province in a cooperative dialog-oriented process.

This paper presents an initial outline of a policy approach called “EU front-runner approach”. It aims at installing a regulatory framework which enables a semi-automated, progressive adaptation of ecodesign minimum requirements for products. It builds on performance levels of the best products available on the market by aggregating information in a database.

On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Affairs, the Working Group on Renewable Energy Statistics (AGEE-Stat) takes stock of the use of renewable energies and annually prepares an official estimate of the development of renewable energies for the previous year.

The city suburbs are becoming EXURBS; the centre of life for millions of people and the intermediate space between cities and countryside is developing dynamically. Living "in the green countryside" is in high demand. Digitisation and the coronavirus pandemic have further bolstered suburbanization.

The criteria for the assessment of ⁠PBT substances were developed for neutral organic substances. Many chemicals are, however, charged under environmentally relevant pH conditions. The influence of a charge in molecule on its potential to degrade in the environment is unclear and therefore the research question of this project.

In view of the ever-increasing progress of climate change, the importance of climate risk assessments is growing. They play a major role at the municipal level in particular (cities, distriscts, municipalities), because it is here that precautionary action must take place in the face of the dangers of the climate crisis.