Topics | Umweltbundesamt

In 2019, around 2.9 million people worked in environmental protection. That was 6.5 % of all employees.Of this, over half are environment-related services.Since 2002, employment in environmental protection has risen steadily and environmental protection has established itself as an important factor for the labour market. read more

After a sharp rise between 2000 and 2003, the proportion of PEFC certified areas has stagnated until 2019. In 2022, the share was 10 percentage points higher than in 2019.Overall, the proportion of areas certified under FSC has developed very well since 2000. The proportion is far below that of PECF certified areas, however.The Federal Government wanted the forested area in Germany certified under... read more

2022 was the sixth warmest year worldwide since records began 1850.The last eight years have been the warmest years worldwide since 1850.The Paris Climate Agreement stipulates that the increase in global temperature should be limited to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and even to 1.5 °C. Due to historical data availability, the comparative period used by WMO for this purpose is 1850 t... read more

Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany declined by around 40,4 % between 1990 and 2022, according to preliminary calculation.Germany aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % by 2020 and by at least 65 % by 2030 compared to 1990 emission levels. Complete greenhouse gas neutrality is to be achieved by 2045.In 2022, Germany stayed right under the 2020 target of minus 40 %. Without massive and rap... read more

To achieve the objectives for the protection of the marine environment, Germany has committed to comply with maximum concentrations of nitrogen at estuaries.On average for all rivers, these target concentrations are already met for the North Sea, but still exceeded for the Baltic Sea.Some of the North Sea and Baltic Sea tributaries still have very high concentrations.In order to fulfil the objecti... read more

Between 1991 and 2022 the area of grassland in Germany decreased by around 11 %.The area of permanent grassland has almost remained at the same level in recent years.The loss of grassland was largely halted with the 2013 agricultural reform, and the area of grassland has not fallen below the 2013 level since then. Effective steps are required to achieve this target. read more

Too high phosphorus concentrations are measured at more than half of all river measurement stations in Germany.The share has declined by around one third since the beginning of the 1980s. Extreme levels of pollution are very rare nowadays.Aim of the Sustainability Strategy is to meet the requirements for good status for phosphorous in all water bodies by 2030 at the latest.This requires a change i... read more

Power generation, heat generation and transport activities pollute the environment, among other things, through the emission of greenhouse gases and air pollutants.This results in high subsequent costs for society, for example through environmentally-induced diseases, damage to ecosystems or even buildings.For Germany, these environmental costs are estimated to amount to almost 217 billion euros i... read more