News

Air pollution, climate change, land sealing, waste and water management are some of the greatest environmental challenges for urban areas. To tackle these challenges, cities need sufficient funds, staff, technical innovation, political commitment, and a national framework and incentives. An UBA study examined six urban areas in six countries.

Information on sustainability in the textile and fashion industry - this is what the new online platform www.sustainfashion.info by HEJSupport offers, funded by the UBA as part of an Associations project. Different aspects of the sector are highlighted, such as environmental pollution or human rights, and allows people to speak who share their visions for more sustainability.

Parties to the Paris Agreement are updating their plans for climate action. Less than half of the countries analysed as part of a project funded by the German Environment Agency are increasing their ambition. Many are lacking a clear plan for implementation. This is the result of a new methodology, which analyses 20 recently submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

At its first meeting on May 25, 2021, the newly formed Resources Commission at the German Environment Agency (UBA) was constituted for the appointment period 2021 to 2024. The Resource Commission consists of 18 experts from science, industry, administration, and civil society, who were personally appointed by the President of UBA.

In the context of the EU Green Week, UBA organised a partner event on the need to finally include biocides in Directive 2009/128/EC on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides or similar legislation. Contributions from stakeholders showed the need for regulatory provisions and also highlighted the opportunities this would bring to foster innovation towards sustainability.

Apart from aligning the cap with the new climate target for 2030, the upcoming EU ETS reform also includes a review of the market stability reserve (MSR). A research project commissioned by the UBA proposes to adjust central MSR parameters in order to strengthen its function to stabilize the market in the event of external shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2013, the Common Agricultural Policy was reformed with the aim of reducing negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Accordingly, farmers had to comply with certain environmentally friendly farming measures, the so-called "greening", to receive the EU subsidies. Despite high costs, however, the effects of the reform have remained small. This has been shown by a recent paper by UBA.

A national emissions trading scheme for heating oil, petrol and other fuels was launched in Germany on 1 January 2021, but how exactly does it work? Our short film explains it in just over 3 minutes.

As long as the Covid-19 pandemic makes face-to-face events impossible, online conferencing formats serve to inform German SAICM stakeholders and provide opportunities for exchange with each other and with BMU and UBA. A series of online workshops focuses on different topics of chemicals management throughout the first half of 2021.

How do climate change and environmental degradation affect human health? What can people in the health professions do to promote climate protection and adaptation to climate change? This and much more is covered by experts in 15 video lectures, many of which are recorded online. UBA provided support for the lecture series from the funding programme for associations (Verbändeförderung).

Climate change will affect the frequency, intensity and regional occurrence of extreme weather events and lead to gradual climatic changes. Although impacts appear locally at first, they spread beyond political borders due to the global physical and economic interconnectedness. A new UBA report provides an overview of the potential impact chains of global climate change on the German economy.

To increase recycling of precious and minor metals, a German Environment Agency study concludes that dismantling and recycling obligations plus information obligations for WEEE and motors with neodymium magnets and end-of-life vehicle electronics may be appropriate. It also recommends consolidation workshops and adjustments to legislation regarding the long-term interim storage of minor metals.