Welcome to the new issue of "The Latest from UBA"!
Back then it was a milestone: the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015 at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Where do we stand today, 10 years on, in implementing the Agreement? Are the goals still achievable? And if so, how? On this tenth anniversary we are taking stock, speaking to people who were in Paris and helped shape the Agreement. More on this and also on the recently concluded 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil, in this newsletter. We also cover the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), designed to prevent the relocation of industrial production outside Europe, as well as how Germany could meet European water protection objectives by giving its streams and rivers more space again.
We hope you find it an interesting read
Your UBA Press and Public Relations team
10 years of the Paris Agreement: Where do we stand?
Celebration on 12 December 2015 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris
Source: Hajü Staudt / UN Climate Change
In December 2015, all countries worldwide unanimously agreed to the Paris Agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, a milestone that made history. That was 10 years ago now. All the more reason to take stock, especially after another UN Climate Change Conference that ended in disappointment in Brazil in November 2025: Once again, the international community failed to agree on a roadmap to phase out coal, oil and gas, even though this is a basic prerequisite for achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This central goal seems to be slipping out of reach: in 2024, the global average temperature exceeded this threshold for the first time, and based on the climate action plans submitted by countries to date, is on track to rise to 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2100. So what do the tough and time-consuming international negotiations achieve? Not enough, but still a lot! International negotiations are essential to solving the global problem of climate change, after all, greenhouse gases know no borders. And they have already delivered notable progress: If all countries implement their currently submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), global greenhouse gas emissions would decline by about 12 percent by 2035 compared with 2019. That is not enough. However, before the adoption of the Paris Agreement, emissions were expected to increase by 20 to 48 percent by 2035. And in 2015, the expected level of global warming was also estimated to be one degree Celsius higher than it is today: 3.4 instead of around 2.4 degrees Celsius by 2100. This is a huge difference when it comes to keeping as many regions of our planet habitable and minimising suffering and damage from heat waves, droughts, floods and other climate impacts. So,let's keep negotiating, even if it is hard.
Read the in-depth review of 10 years of the Paris Agreement, as well as video interviews with representatives from science, business, politics and civil society who were in Paris, including UBA President Dirk Messner, on our (German-language) anniversary page.
The results of COP30 are disappointing and reflect the complex geopolitical situation that prevented substantial progress. The proposed roadmap for a global phase-out of coal, oil and gas failed due to a strong opposition. Despite immense differences, many smaller decisions and successes were achieved.
In 2026, emission allowances in the German national emissions trading system (nETS) will be auctioned for the first time. The auctions, conducted within a set price corridor, mark the transition to the new European Emissions Trading System for fuels (EU ETS 2). The German Environment Agency commissioned the Leipzig-based energy exchange, European Energy Exchange (EEX), to conduct the auctions.
As part of the research project FKZ 3722 42 510 0 ‘Climate protection measures in coastal regions and waters’
Blue Carbon ecosystems, such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows, play a vital role in climate mitigation by storing atmospheric CO₂ in their soils.
This paper highlights the critical need to distinguish between autochthonous (locally fixed) and allochthonous (externally sourced) carbon to ensure accurate carbon accounting. It states, that the inclusion of allochthonous carbon may…
Assessment and operationalisation of relevant criteria
The CBAM scope includes selected imported goods to ensure a level playing field with EU production covered by the EU ETS 1. While 573 mainly basic materials and products are covered, expanding the scope to downstream goods must be assessed. The paper identifies five criteria for prioritisation: share of CBAM inputs, emissions relevance, carbon-leakage risk, administrative burden, and avoidance of…
Two types of large-scale models with different modelling philosophies are used to quantify socioeconomic effects in scenarios in which the EU moves forward in climate policy and applies different design options under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) combined with a Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM).
One model, GEM-E3, is a computable general equilibrium model that follows neoclassical theory…
In Article 2.1 (c) of the Paris Agreement, the international community sets itself the goal of ensuring that global financial flows are consistent with the objectives of the Agreement. But how can we determine whether this goal is being achieved? The German Federal Environment Agency has commissioned a research project to develop an assessment approach to this question.
The aim of this report is to analyse the (economic) impacts of the extension of the EU ETS 1 to maritime transport on the sector and the interlinkages with other policies considering the overall climate impacts. The report contains a market analysis for maritime transport services, which was carried out for maritime and inland shipping. The report also analyses the qualitative effects and…
In this data research project, quantitative data from available sources of information relating to two core topics will be researched and compiled in a uniform data format:
1. product-related material flows, energy consumption and (direct and indirect) greenhouse gas emissions within the scope of the EU-ETS 1, with a focus on the steel, cement, aluminium, refinery and basic chemicals industries.
Substance profiles and proposed EU-LCI values for 4-hydroxy-4-methylpentan-2-one, 1,4-butanediol, acetophenone, n- and isopropyl acetate and isobutyl acetate
The subject of this project was the preparation of substance reports for five substances relevant for building products emissions. For these substances, the toxicological data basis was compiled and evaluated, and EU-LCI values were proposed. The EU-LCI values allow the harmonisation of the health assessment of building products emissions throughout Europe. The EU-LCI Working Group is currently…
The mechanism, which protects against carbon leakage and thus against the relocation of industrial production outside Europe, will be limited to large import volumes of relevant basic materials produced outside the EU. Small importers in the basic materials sector will be exempt from the obligations as of January 1, 2026.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Environment Agency are celebrating the winners of the German Ecodesign Award 2025 in Berlin. The award-winning projects demonstrate the broad spectrum of sustainable design today. Whether it’s bio-based materials or AI-enabled applications, design here becomes a lever for resource conservation, innovative business models and societal change.
UBA invites to the final conference of the EU project “NiCE” on March 11–12, 2026, at the UBA headquarters in Dessau-Roßlau. Together with cities, regions, networks, NGOs, and initiatives, we want to discuss ways to promote sustainable consumption structures in city centers.
Many Germans desire to travel sustainably, but this wish is hardly reflected in their actual travel behaviour up to now. This is shown by the new report from the demand monitor “Sustainability in Holiday Travel” by the Research Association for Holidays and Travel (FUR) together with the German Environment Agency (UBA).
In the environmental risk assessment of plant protection products, the risk of spray drift losses to the off-field can be reduced by adding drift reduction measures. The question is how the combination of several measures affects the overall risk and, in particular, the associated uncertainty. Various statistical methods have been used to quantify both the overall risk and its uncertainty, in…
The report presents a study on the environmental behaviour of melamine (CAS: 108-78-1), investigated in adsorption and desorption experiments with five different soils.
As part of the study, the organic carbon-normalized adsorption coefficients (Koc values) were determined. Koc describes the relative distribution of a substance between soil and water, normalized to the fraction of organic carbon in…
For 1H-benzotriazole (CAS: 95-14-7), 4-methyl- (CAS: 29878-31-7) and 5-methyl-benzotriazole (CAS: 136-85-6)
The report presents a study on the environmental behaviour of three benzotriazoles – 1H-benzotriazole (CAS 95-14-7), 4-methylbenzotriazole (CAS 29878-31-7), and 5-methylbenzotriazole (CAS 136-85-6) – investigated in adsorption and desorption experiments with five different soils.
As part of the study, the organic carbon-normalized adsorption coefficients (Koc values) were determined. Koc describes…
How good is the air we breathe? The German Environment Agency’s new Air Quality Index will provide answers based on the latest scientific findings. The index assesses concentrations of air pollutants, evaluates the associated health risks, and offers guidance for the general public as well as vulnerable groups.
Anthropogenic activities to a great extent influence and alter the natural nitrogen cycle. The existing guidance document offers detailed description to inventory human influenced nitrogen fluxes on a national level. In eight chapters, the eight technical annexes are described to implement a national nitrogen budget. A National nitrogen budget serves as a tool of the Geneva Convention on long…
Restoring just two percent of land to rivers and streams could help Germany achieve many of the European water protection goals.This is the result of calculations carried out on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UBA). According to these findings, water bodies in Germany are currently lacking about 7,000 square kilometres of land.
Contribution to the CONMAR Project (CONcepts for conventional MArine munition Remediation in the German North and Baltic Sea)
The German Environment Agency has conducted tests to determine the ecotoxicity of TNT and its metabolites 2-ADNT and 4-ADNT, as well as other munition compounds (1,3-DNB and 2,6-DNT) by using two marine diatom species (Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Skeletonema marinoi) in accordance with DIN EN ISO 10253 (2016) and derived effect concentrations on this basis.
