Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Climate | Energy, Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Resource-Efficient Pathways towards Greenhouse-Gas- Neutrality – RESCUE: Summary Report

The RESCUE study describes in six scenarios possible development paths towards a resource-efficient and greenhouse-gas (GHG) neutral Germany until 2050. For this, assumptions related to the level of ambition for reaching GHG-neutrality, the magnitude of materials- and energy-efficiency, and the implementation of sustainable life-styles are varied. Until 2050, GHG-emissions can be reduced by 95 per...read more

Chemicals

Analysis of studies and research projects regarding the detection of nanomaterials in different environmental compartments and deduction of need for action regarding method development

Detection of manufactured nanomaterials (NM) still features enormous challenges for environmental exposure assessment and management of NM. The expert opinion presents a comprehensive survey on existing experimental approaches to detect NM in the environment and analyses to what extent these approaches could be utilized and advanced to be used routinely for data collection to assess and manage env...read more

Economy | Consumption, Transport

Environmentally friendly air conditioning for trains – Field data measurement and analysis on the ICE 3 air-cycle system

Testing, measurement and evaluation of systems with natural refrigerants for sustainable cooling and heating in means of public transport – Substitution of fluorinated greenhouse gases Final report

Today's railway air-conditioning systems cool primarily with fluorinated refrigerants, which have had to be scaled back step by step since 2016 due to their climate-damaging effect. Air-assisted air-conditioning systems, so-called air-cycle systems, use compressed outside air for cooling, so they do not require any fluorinated refrigerants. It has now also been proven that these air conditioning s...read more

Chemicals

Advancing REACH Financing options for ECHA

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is responsible for the implementation of ⁠REACH⁠ and ⁠CLP⁠. This report describes the expenditure needed to sustain this work and the funding structure of the Agency. A number of new funding mechanisms which could be introduced into the discussions at EU level are proposed and fee levels estimated. These include: A new annual charge/...read more

Transport

International Cycling Conference 2017

Bridging the gap between research and practice 19-21 September 2017, Mannheim, Germany

The Conference Proceedings are the final report of the International Cycling Conference (ICC) which took place from 19 until 21 September 2017 in Mannheim, Germany. Marking the 200th birthday of the bicycle this interdisciplinary and international three-day conference by the German Environment Agency emphasized the importance of cycling from an international perspective. 292 participants, 90 prese...read more

Chemicals

Development of an analytical method for the quantification of surfactants and its application to wastewater treatment plant effluents

Surfactants are a major component of many detergents and household cleansers, and therefore, they also reach surface waters to a certain extent. In order to estimate the resulting environmental risk, two surfactant groups (i.e., LAS and AES) were determined by target analysis in 33 wastewater samples from German sewage treatment plants. Additionally, several other surfactants and their degradation...read more

Economy | Consumption, Transport

Guide on green public procurement: Buses

Environmental requirements in tendering procedures for buses are intended to reduce the significant pollutant, greenhouse gas and noise emissions occasioned by buses, particularly in urban environments and areas in need of protection. Hence the requirements recommended in this guide apply to buses used for urban transport, but can also be used for interurban and long-distance buses. These requirem...read more