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Population expects more environmental and climate protection from all stakeholders

The FairCup start-up is the first company to be awarded the Blue Angel ecolabel for its reusable cup system. FairCup started out as a student project at a vocational training school in Göttingen. The company is now represented all over Germany. The aim of the Blue Angel for resource-saving reusable cup systems (DE-UZ 210) is to reduce the number of disposable cups that are used.

German consumers use 2.8 billion disposable cups per year for hot beverages, an equivalent of 34 cups per person.

Lesser use of fossile energy and favourable weather conditions helped with the decline.

Developments in 2018 in the renewable energy sector reflect a rather mixed picture: in the electricity market renewable energies covered nearly 38 per cent of overall gross final electricity consumption, due mainly to the year’s unusually sunny weather. In the heating sector, the share of renewables rose only slightly, virtually unchanged compared to previous years at just under 14 per cent.

Guidance for planners and operators of refrigeration equipment

Heavy metals, residues of pharmaceutical drugs and plastic: just a few of the many pollutants contained in sewage sludge. Until recently most of the sludges were used as agricultural fertiliser. Nowadays more than half of it is used and combusted for energy purposes. A new UBA brochure has information on disposal practices and on the current status in sludge treatment and recycling.

The Paris Agreement set the international goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve this, it is essential to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards zero. Additional measures are needed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, such as reforestation. However, UBA advises against betting on untried, risky technologies.

Raw material prices must reflect the ecological truth. UBA is calling for more protection of the environment in the mining sector.

According to the IPCC, global warming must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to mitigate the risks. An UBA position paper outlines how the EU climate policy could be aligned with this goal. Already by 2020, the parties to the Paris Agreement are to submit their updated national climate contribution to limit global warming. Up to now, far less has been promised than would be necessary.

Climate protection and better air quality are important issues in cities in both Poland and Germany. In an advisory assistance project of the German Federal Environment Ministry and the UBA, the exchange of experiences and collaboration between municipalities in Germany and Poland as well as other key stakeholders was intensified for the transition to a low-emissions economy.

NO2 thresholds still exceeded in many cities, only one case of particulate exceedance, high level of ozone pollution