Umweltbundesamt

The five-year average of nitrogen surplus per hectare of utilized agricultural land has decreased by 15 % since 1993.The Federal Government aims to reduce the average nitrogen surplus of the years 2028 to 2032 to 70 kilogrammes per year.Efforts must be considerably intensified to reach this target. read more

The most important environmental taxes are energy, motor vehicle and electricity taxes.In 2018, environmental taxes amounted to a total of 59.5 billion euros.Environmental taxes have significantly increased since 1995. Since 2009, however, their share of total taxes has been in constant decline. read more

In 2017, the health of about 4.7 million people was affected by night-time noise. Throughout the day, noise affected the health of at least 3.3 million people.The main source of noise is road traffic. Rail traffic is particularly relevant at night. Overall, aircraft noise plays only a minor role.Noise that exceeds exposure limits can lead to health problems. 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.These target concentrations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea are only slightly exceeded on average by all rivers, but some rivers still have very high concentrations.In order to fulfil the objectives, it is necessary that each river achieves th... read more

The share of area under organic farming of agricultural land increased from 2.1 % to 9.1 % from 1996 to 2018.The Federal Government aims to increase the proportion of organically cultivated areas to 20 % by 2030.At the growth rate of recent years, this aim will still take decades to achieve. read more

The background levels of three main air pollutants in German agglomerations exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline values and effect thresholds.Close to sources, pollutant levels can even be significantly higher.The situation regarding nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter has greatly improved since 2000.Ozone and particulate matter pollution is very dependent on the weather. Levels th... read more

All bathing waters in the EU were supposed to be of at least sufficient quality by 2015.Germany missed the target by a narrow margin: 98 % of all bathing waters met the requirements in 2018.Taking into account only those bathing waters that were assessed, 99.7 % of the bathing waters met the requirements.94 % of inland bathing waters and almost 86 % of coastal bathing waters had excellent water qu... read more

Between 2014 and 2017, 58 hectares (ha) of land per day were newly dedicated to settlements and transport infrastructure.The Federal Government aims to reduce this figure to 30 ha per day by 2020 and below 30 ha per day by 2030.Additional actions are necessary in order to achieve these targets. read more