Topics | Umweltbundesamt

Between 2019 and 2023, 51 hectares of land per day were newly dedicated to settlements and transport infrastructure.Originally, the increase was to fall to 30 hectares per day by 2020. According to the goals of the sustainability strategy, the daily increase now should be less than 30 hectares per day by 2030.The Integrated Environmental Programme of the Federal Environment Ministry specifies a re... read more

In 2023, environmental taxes amounted to a total of 69.5 billion euros.Their share of total taxes has been on a downward trend since 2005 and now stands at 7.6 %.The highest-yielding environmental taxes are the energy tax, the motor vehicle tax. and revenue from national emissions trading. read more

Since studies began, the stomachs of 88 % to 97 % beached fulmars have been found to contain plastics.Around 48 % of beached fulmars on the North Sea coasts have more than 0.1 grammes of plastic in their stomachs.The target set by the OSPAR convention is to reduce this to a maximum of 10 %. However, it may take a long time to reach this target.Large quantities of plastic waste still end up in the... read more

EMAS is an internationally applicable system for environmental management. It is the most ambitious environmental management standard publicly available.In its sustainability strategy, the German government has set the target that 5,000 sites should be registered according to EMAS by 2030.In 2024, there were 4,533 sites with around 1.2 million employees. read more

The averaged index of air pollutants fell by 39.5 % between 2005 and 2023.The obligations of the Gothenburg Protocol and the NEC Directive for 2020 were achieved.The challenge to meet the reduction commitments of the European NEC Directive for 2030 differ from substance to substance.Nitrogen oxide emissions need to be reduced significantly to achieve the 2030 goal.For sulphur dioxide, ammonia and... read more

The total raw material productivity grew by 27 % between 2010 and 2022.According to the German government, an average growth of 1.6 % of total raw material productivity must be achieved between 2010 and 2030.After many years in which average growth remained below the target corridor, it has now been achieved for the first time.Total raw material productivity is a measure of the efficiency of raw m... read more

The basic pollution levels in German conurbations significantly exceed WHO recommendations from 2021 for particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).In the vicinity of pollutant sources, pollution levels can even be significantly higher.The situation for NO₂ and PM2.5 has improved considerably since 2000, but the WHO recommendations for 2021 are still clearly exceeded.Ozone and PM2.5 pol... read more

In 2023 around 3.4 million people worked in Green Tech.Waste management and resource conservation (circular economy) account for around one third.The number of employees has risen steadily since 2010. read more