Publications

This report contains a description and analysis of 242 air quality plans (AQPs) and action plans published in Germany up to 30.11.2012. These plans offer an extensive overview of the current situation in Germany regarding air quality, different methodologies of assessment and proposed measures to improve air quality.

Currently there are no testing and assessment strategies for environmental fate and effects taking the specific properties and behaviour of engineered nanomaterials into account.

This study analyses how sectoral approaches are evolving in existing and future mitiga-tion mechanisms, and how they can help shaping the transition period to a new climate regime most effectively. The analysis is based on an evaluation of recent UNFCCC sub-missions, a desk review of the relevant literature and databases, as well as a set of semi-structured expert interviews.

Germany’s municipal sewage treatment plants generate some two million tons of dry sewage sludge annually, with the proportion of thermally
treated sewage sludge increasing from 31.5 per cent in 2004 to more than 54 % in 2011.

The study shows that it is technically feasible for Germany to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2050. The scenario chosen in the study considers the issue from a purely national perspective and does not include interaction with other countries.

Discharge via the municipal waste water system is the dominant emission pathway to water for many micropollutants especially for household chemicals, substances used in commerce and industry (especially in small and medium-sized enterprises), pharmaceuticals and biocides.

The world is in a process of constant change and development. Not only is technology advancing, but the environment as well as  political, social and economic systems are constantly changing. To respond, it is important to look into the future so as to recognize and take advantage of opportunities as well as detect and minimize risks to mitigate negative consequences.

The UBA celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014. As an exception we took this occasion to take a look at the past in our annual "What Matters" publication, namely at the most important milestones in German environmental policy with which the UBA is closely associated. The publication also casts a spotlight on the most current topics in environmental protection.

This tome of the report contains a synopsis of the emission measurement results in found-ry industry plants.

Based on the Directive on Industrial Emissions (IED, which replaced Directive 2008/01/EC) an information exchange about Best Available Techniques (BAT) between industry, Member States and Environmental NGO is organised by the European Commission for industry sectors mentioned in Annex 1 of the IED. It was intended to start drafting and updating the BAT documents on foundries in 2012.

Biodiversity in Europe is strongly affected by the deposition of nitrogen and sulfur on terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, the deposition of these atmospheric substances is assessed for the years 2008 and 2009 within the PINETI project. Dry, wet and occult deposition of NHx, NOy, SOx and the base cations Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ und Na+ are calculated and added up to the total deposition.

In 2010 environmentally harmful subsidies in Germany amounted to more than €52 billion. The state granted subsidies among others to the lignite industry and aviation sector. The volume of subsidies therefore remains high –  and there is no sign of a systematic reduction. Environmentally harmful subsidies not only thwart environmental protection, they are also a burden on public funds.