“Public administrations must pioneer and be a role model in climate protection”, said Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency (UBA) at an online meeting of the Network of Heads of European Environmental Administrations (EPA Network) on November 25th. He presented UBA’s guide on greenhouse gas neutral administrations, now also available in English.
Despite their separate administrative remits, cities and the urban hinterland are nevertheless closely linked and mutually dependent upon one another. A new strategy paper titled UMLANDSTADT umweltschonend shows how to link work and private life, recreation and mobility in cities and the surrounding areas, in order to increase the quality of life and to better protect the environment.
The greenhouse gas-neutral economic system of the future will continue to rely on hydrocarbons, for example in the chemical industry for the production of plastics or in aviation and maritime transport for the production of synthetic fuels. The carbon will be sourced from a new carbon circular economy but mainly from the atmosphere. The energy needs to come from fully renewable sources.
The German Environment Agency (UBA) is calling upon businesses to review their packaging systems and optimise their environmental friendliness. Significantly more reusable products would also have to be introduced – not only in beverage packaging but also in other areas, such as e-commerce and to-go consumption.
In this online workshop on 16 November 2021 policy roadmaps for accelerating the uptake of e-fuels in air and maritime transport developed by Öko-Institut, CE Delft and DLR on behalf of the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) will be presented and discussed.
The phasing out of tax breaks for automobile and agricultural diesel, the private use of fossil-fuel company cars and agricultural vehicles, as well as of the commuter mileage allowance would generate additional revenues for the public sector in the double-digit billions. This is the conclusion of a new study by the German Environment Agency (UBA) on environmentally harmful subsidies in 2018.
Climate change in Germany is causing more heat, increased drought combined with water shortages and forest fires, less certainty of snow and an increase in heavy rainfall and flooding at the same time. A new study commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) shows how these changes will affect tourism and what adaptation strategies are possible.
A new evaluation by the German Environment Agency (UBA) reports that municipalities, retailers and producers in Germany collected 947,067 tonnes of electrical waste in 2019. The amount corresponds to a collection rate of 44.3 percent, which means the minimum collection target of 65 percent which was set for all EU member states in 2019 was missed and fell short of some 443,000 tonnes.
In order to achieve the EU's 2030 climate target, a reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is necessary. The amount of issued certificates is to be reduced and the financial support for climate protection measures expanded. In addition, maritime transport is to be covered by the EU ETS in future and a new emissions trading scheme for buildings and road transport is to be created.
The "Aktion Biotonne Deutschland" 2021 campaign to promote the collection of biowaste starts on 14 October. Through 30 November municipalities are thanking their citizens for the separate collection of biowaste. The six-week campaign involves various actions aiming at collecting larger amounts of biowaste and achieving more varietal purity.
In autumn 2021, the new European research project "ZeroPM: Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile substances" will start. The German Environment Agency (UBA) is involved as a project partner. ZeroPM will develop political, technological and market-based tools that aim to reduce the use and emissions of persistent and mobile substances as well as contamination from such substances.
94 entries were presented to a meeting of the award jury held at the feldfünf e.V. company on 28 September in Berlin. 25 projects are the lucky nominees for the German Federal Ecodesign Award 2021. Winners of the highest national distinction for ecodesign will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held at the Federal Ministry for the Environment on 6 December 2021.
