Topics | Umweltbundesamt

The use of energy resources (energy consumption) is associated with many negative environmental impacts.The figure "final energy consumption" excludes the consumption of the energy system itself and reflects the energy consumption of end consumers.The Energy Efficiency Act sets the target that final energy consumption should be 26.5 % lower than in 2008 by 2030 (2045: - 45 %).The German Environmen... read more

Between 2019 and 2022, 52 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

After a sharp rise between 2000 and 2003, the proportion of PEFC certified areas has stagnated until 2019. In 2023, 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

The Federal Government wants to lower final energy consumption of freight and passenger transport by 15 to 20 % by 2030 compared to 2005.Freight and passenger transport have become significantly more efficient since the early 1990s, but the increased transport performance has led to an increase or stagnation in final energy consumption.Final energy consumption in freight transport remains at a hig... read more

EMAS is an internationally applicable system for environmental management. It is the most ambitious environmental management standard publicly available.By 2011 and 2012 respectively, the number of EMAS registered organisations, sites and employees had declined.A slight upward trend was then observed until 2017, which did not continue from 2018 to 2020. Since 2020, there has been a rise in the num... read more

Since 2010, the population's PM2.5 exposure above an annual average of 10 µg/m³ (interim target 4 of the new guideline values of the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 2021, equal to the old WHO guideline value from 2005) has decreased significantly in Germany.However, between 2010 and 2021, almost the entire population was exposed to particulate matter levels above the current WHO guideline val... read more

Final energy consumption associated with buildings decreased by 15.2 % between 2008 and 2022.However, according to the 2010 Energy Concept, the heat demand of buildings should have decreased by 20 % between 2008 and 2020. In fact, consumption fell by only 10.9 %.Due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the subsequent efforts to save energy in Germany, final energy consumption in bu... read more

2023 was the warmest year worldwide since records began 1850.The last nine 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