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In 1997, at the United Nations conference on climate change hosted in Kyoto, Japan, the European Union committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent in the period from 2008 to 2012, with 1990 as baseline. The EU members agreed to reduce their emissions jointly under consideration of their different national circumstances in a burden sharing agreement.

The utilisation of renewable energy sources is, alongside measures to improve energy efficiency, the central pillar of sustainable energy systems.

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The German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety has given advisory assistance to the Republic of Bulgaria preparing the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The advice was given in the context of the EU-Pharesupport programme („Phare-Twinning-Projects“) during a two-year german-bulgarian twinning- project.

After twenty years of preparative work the Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy (the EU Water Framework Directive, WFD) finally entered into force as of 22.12.2000 when it was published in the Official Journal.

Recent forecasts indicate serious hazards for our economies, the stability of ecosystems and sustainable development. A global temperature rise of 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels appears to be the very most that can be tolerated.

Germany is pursuing ambitious goals regarding the further development of wind energy use. The German Federal Government considers the expansion of renewable energy use as a central element of its climate conservation and energy policies.

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) lays down new requirements for surface water monitoring, including 33 substances or groups of substances subject to a high ecotoxicological risk potential. Environmental discharges of these substances must be prevented and their concentration in the environment reduced as much as possible.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires that surface waters in Europe must reach a good status by 2015. The prerequisite for this is achieving a good chemical status.

This brochure provides figures and facts about the use of natural resources in Germany. Indicators and trends show the areas in which efficiency gains are emerging and those in which resource efficiency still needs to be increased.

The scarcity of many raw materials holds significant conflict potentials as global demand increases rapidly. This does not only apply to fossil resources, focussed in the public debate, but also to many rare mineral resources. An important example is the ore coltan, from which tantalum is separated for the use as material or in the electronics industry.