Climate | Energy

Stimulus packages amounting to billions of euros have been and are being launched worldwide to mitigate the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus crisis. The Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) consider these programmes an opportunity to set the course towards a more sustainable society by planning a resilient and viable economic recovery.

A resilient climate change forest, urban green as a cool oasis in the middle of a hot city, climate-friendly building materials made from natural resources, and a coaching programme to assist municipalities in adapting to climate change – these are the winners of this year’s Blauer Kompass award. The projects were honoured during an online conference on climate resilience.

The German Environment Agency (UBA) believes it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. A key element in this is a rapid reform of EU emissions trading.

The German Environment Agency (UBA) reports positive environmental performance 30 years after German reunification. Air, water and soil much cleaner – climate change remains greatest challenge.

Renewable energies strengthened their position in the German electricity mix significantly in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year. In total, around 138 billion kilowatt hours of renewable electricity were generated in the first six months of 2020, around eight percent more than in the first half of 2019 (+ approximately 10 billion kWh).

What is the greenhouse effect and which gases are involved? How do man-made greenhouse gas emissions cause change in the earth’s atmosphere and what can still be done to limit global warming?

UBA together with UNDP, UNEP, Future Earth, ISC, ITU and Kenya is championing the Coalition for Digital Environment Sustainability – CODES, which brings together science community, governmental institutions, UN Bodies, tech companies, and civil society.

Sources of natural hazards, such as heavy rainfall, flooding, winter storms or lightning, can cause major accidents. Climate change can change the intensity, frequency and local distribution of such sources of hazards. Operators of installations in which large quantities of hazardous substances are present and the authorities responsible for them must therefore adapt their risk management.

The 2019 emissions of the roughly 1,850 stationary installations in Germany recorded in the European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) amounted to around 363 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq). This is a 14-percent decrease compared to the previous year.

The specific CO2 emission factor of Germany's electricity mix continues to be on the decline, say the latest calculations done by the German Environment Agency (UBA) for 2019. The main relevant factors which contributed to this were increased electricity generated from renewables and less from coal firing as well as prices in emissions trading.

The German Environment Agency (UBA) has nominated 15 climate change adaptation projects to compete in the Blauer Kompass contest. Many exemplary actions are included, ranging from educational training modules in agriculture and climate-adapted housing, to heat protection for day care centres, schools and nursing homes.

Renewable energies accounted for 17.1 percent of gross final energy consumption in 2019. This is compared to a share of 16.5 percent in the previous year. This puts the target of 18 percent which Germany must achieve by 2020 under the EU Renewable Energy Directive within sight. These are conclusions based on current data from the German Environment Agency (UBA).