Press | Umweltbundesamt

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has assessed air quality for the year  2009 based on interim data, and arrived at the following conclusion: at 55 percent of air measuring stations placed in urban areas in the vicinity of traffic, annual mean levels of nitrogen dioxide concentrations (NO2) in 2009 were above the 40 micrograms/cubic metre air (µg/m3) which is set as the cap as of 1.1.2010. read more

Pollution of the climate owing to waste management activities was at a level of some 38 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in Germany in 1990. Up until 2006 this burden had lightened to about 18 million tonnes. The overall decline in emissions of climate-damaging gases-- thanks in particular to ending disposal of untreated residential waste- amounts to about 56 million tonnes, which is a volume rou... read more

The EU has adopted new legislation on plant protection. The new regulations about the authorisation and use of plant protection agents represent a giant leap for environmental protection in Europe. ”The new directive about authorisation bans the application of especially hazardous ingredients in plant protection products. This is long overdue and now marks progress in preventive environmental prot... read more

International energy scenarios have underestimated the potential of energy efficiency and renewable energies. This is the outcome of research by a consortium within the German Aerospace Center (DLR) done on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and has been published in the Role and Potential of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Global Energy Supply study. The study analyses glob... read more

Climate changes have both a direct as well as indirect impact on the health of all humans, which is just one more reason why the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen must be a success. ”Heat waves, storms, floods, altered occurrence of allergens, new pathogens, or even a change in natural UV radiation are all a result of climate change that can give rise to health concerns in us humans”, sai... read more

World Soil Day is traditionally on 5 December, which gives the Federal Environment Agency occasion to draw attention to the importance of intact soil: ”When compared to the media water and soil, soil is still often trampled under foot. However, man lives on as well as from intact and healthy soils. Fertile soil is a source of raw materials and food, a store of nutrients, water or greenhouse gases,... read more

On 3 December 1984, a catastrophic chemical accident occurred at the Union Carbide India Ltd plant in Bhopal, India.  Due to numerous defects, errors and the failure of safety systems, a 20-to-30-tonne gas cloud of the highly toxic intermediate chemical methyl isocyanate escaped into the atmosphere. In the first week the human death toll was at least 2,500 plus 500,000 seriously injured. Even year... read more

For the past quarter of a century the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has issued regular reports on the developments in the state of the environment in Germany. In its most recent publication, Data on the Environment 2009, the Agency shows mixed results. ”Germany has made great progress. On one hand it has improved the state of the environment in the new Laender considerably since 1990; on the ot... read more