Publications

For many years, the German public have regarded environmental protection as one of the most important problems in Germany. People attach great importance to the quality of environmental assets – such as climate, water, soil or air.

Waste management measures make a major contribution to cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases. The necessary steps for restructuring towards a “climate-friendly waste management sector” are known, and reliable recycling and waste treatment techniques are available.

Currently there are no standard methods for studies on the degradation behaviour of substances in manure. Such methods are of great importance for the authorisation process for biocides and veterinary medicinal products. Presently, information on the variability of the composition of different types of manure with regard to species and production type is not available.

In assessing the impact of biocides on the environment, specific risk mitigation measures (RMM) may be required to reduce the risks for the environment.

Emissions trading systems have been or are being established in many countries and regions around the world to curb climate-damaging emissions of greenhouse gases. Most of these systems include measures to safeguard the competitiveness of industries under an emissions cap.

Beschreibung

By ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Germany undertook to make annual reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) about Germany’s emissions of greenhouse gases. This is done in the National Inventory Report (NIR), which under the Common Reporting Format (CRF) is required to observe a specific organisation.

The present report shall describe the activities carried out in the frame of the project „Concept development for an environmental impact assessment for off-shore wind parks in the Baltic States “ from November 2007 till October 2009.

In a new waste hierarchy the amended EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD) (2008/98/EG) confirmed the prevention of waste as a priority measure to protect the environment with regard to the production and handling of waste. Amongst others the Member States are requested to promote waste prevention. According to article 29 par.

Even if we succeed in achieving the EU target of reducing global warming to 2°C, it will be absolutely essential to adapt to changing climatic conditions. The greenhouse gases cur-rently present in the atmosphere will influence the climate in coming decades.

So far, developing countries do not contribute to global emissions reductions in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol: while they participate in the CDM, the reductions achieved through the mechanism are used for offsetting emissions in industrialized countries, thus resulting in a zero-sum game for the atmosphere.

Germany, as a party to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, has an obligation to prepare emissions inventories and publish them at regular intervals. To meet these reporting requirements, Germany operates the Central System for Emissions (Zentrale System Emissionen – ZSE), a comprehensive database that is used both to calculate and to manage and document relevant emission data.