Press | Umweltbundesamt

A whole range of batteries have excessively high heavy metal content. In addition, the presence of these heavy metals is often not labelled. These are the conclusions of a new study done on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). UBA President Jochen Flasbarth says: "The contamination in many of the tested zinc-coal batteries is exceedingly high: nearly half of them exceed the limit for ca... read more

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has now supplied 500 energy-saving packs to libraries. The sets can be borrowed free of charge and used to detect and minimise stand-by losses. The campaign was launched in cooperation with the foundation No-Energy-Stiftung für Klimaschutz und Ressourceneffizienz. "The most effective brake on the electricity bill is to save! Many households could take simple me... read more

The greening of our mobility and transport systems will benefit both the individual and the economy. Some new studies by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) call for more interlinking of the car, bus, train and bicycle as transport choices, for more control of traffic flows and for expanding the cycling networks. The studies also show that sustainable mobility not only benefits the environment an... read more

Mr Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will be meeting staff of the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau today on his tour of Germany. Talks will focus on international environmental protection issues such as marine litter and the continuing loss of fertile soils. The new role of the UNEP after its status was upgraded as agreed by the UN Member Sta... read more

The volume of waste in the world's oceans has grown to over one hundred million tonnes. Some 600,000 cubic metres are thought to be on the seabed of the North Sea alone. The major type of waste is plastic. Many marine animals either ingest or become entangled in these plastics, leading to injury or even death. Germany and the European Commission want to drastically reduce waste deposition to the s... read more

Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier presented the Federal Ministry for Environment's new funding priority "Material efficiency in production" at the Hannover Messe trade show today. The BMU is supporting the initiative under the Environmental Innovation Programme with a funding volume of up to 20 million euros. The objective of the funding priority is the optimisation of production process... read more

The CO2 emissions of the 1,627 energy and industrial installations in Germany that are subject to compulsory emissions trading were somewhat higher in 2012 than the previous year. The total volume is 452.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared to 450.3 million tonnes in 2011. There was a notable difference between coal and natural gas. Whereas the energy sector's carbon dioxide emissions from... read more

The environmental condition of many of the streams and rivers in the southern Alpine foothills of Germany is ranked 'good'. These water bodies flow in the depositions of the last ice age, in the immediate vicinity of the large lakes in the foothills. They include the tributaries of Lake Ammer, the Attel or the lower reaches of the Loisach, and the Argen and Schussen tributaries to Lake Constance.... read more