Topics | Umweltbundesamt

In 2021, around 3.2 million people worked in environmental protection. That was 7.1 % 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

All bathing waters in the EU were supposed to be of at least sufficient quality by 2015.97.8 % of inland bathing waters had excellent water quality in 2024. With that the target has been missed only slightly.Considering only those bathing waters that were explicitly assessed, 99.6 % of the bathing waters met the requirements in 2024.About 91 % of inland waters and a good 88 % of coastal bathing wa... read more

406,300 people worked in the renewable energy sector in 2023.Strong employment growth until 2011 was followed by a pronounced decline that resulted from the widespread collapse of the domestic photovoltaic industry.Only since 2020, employment has been rising again. read more

After a sharp rise between 2000 and 2003, the proportion of PEFC certified areas has stagnated until 2019. In 2024, the share was 10 percentage points higher than in 2019.Overall, the proportion of areas certified under FSC has developed very well since 2000, with a dip in 2024. The proportion is far below that of PECF certified areas, however.The Federal Government wanted the forested area in Ger... read more

2024 was the warmest year worldwide since records began 1850.The last ten years have been the warmest years worldwide since 1850.The Paris 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 to 1900. read more

Compared with 2010, energy consumption by private households and associated carbon dioxide emissions decreased overall.Raw material use stagnated at the level of 2010.In its Sustainability Strategy the German government sets the goal of reducing the global environmental footprint of private household consumption in all three areas. read more

According to initial calculations, greenhouse gas emissions in Germany declined by 48.2 % between 1990 and 2024.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.With the ‘amended Federal Climate Protection Act’ in 2024, the allowed sectoral emission quantities... read more

To achieve the objectives for the protection of the marine environment, Germany has committed to achieve target values for total nitrogen at the limnic-marine transition points.For the flow-weighted 5-year moving average of all rivers, these target values are achieved for the North Sea, but are still exceeded for the Baltic Sea.Some of the North and Baltic Sea tributaries still have very high conc... read more