Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Chemicals

Basic principles for the development of a concept for environmental exposure assessments of single substances released from multiple uses under REACH

The ECHA Guidance Documents R.12 to R.18 include detailed provisions on how to conduct an exposure assessment as part of the Chemical Safety Report. The guidance documents, however, only restrictedly address the consideration of a substance’s emissions into the environment, if the local releases from various uses of the same substance result in a cumulative exposure. In a situation where a chemica...read more

Economy | Consumption

Sensory-based evaluation of building product emissions

Integration into the Blue Angel award criteria and assessment scheme of the Committee for Health Evaluation of Building Products

Emissions from building products considerably impair the quality of indoor air. The AgBB scheme has been used to evaluate the emissions of volatile organic compounds (⁠VOC⁠) from building products. The hygienic evaluation according to the AgBB scheme requires product-specific measurement methods which are already available for a number of products. They have been validated in co-oper...read more

Economy | Consumption

Report on the Environmental Economy 2011

Facts & Figures for Germany

Environmental protection has developed into an important factor in the German economy. This can be seen from the development of the environmental economy, a cross-sectoral industry comprising all businesses that supply environmental goods and services.read more

Climate | Energy, Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

A climate-neutral lifestyle:

Consumers lead the way in climate protection

We are all aware of the importance of climate protection. We are also aware that time is running out. What is needed is the creation of a climate-neutral society where the amount of CO2 and other climate-damaging gases released into the environment does not cause further damage. We must start now and make essential elements of a climate-neutral lifestyle part of our daily lives. This brochure will...read more

Chemicals, Water

Recommendations for Simulations to Predict

Environmental Concentrations of Active Substances of Plant Protection Products and their Metabolites in Groundwater (PECgw) in the National Assessment for Authorisation in Germany

In the national assessment for authorisation in Germany the leaching behaviour of a plant protection product is determined in a stepwise procedure in accordance with FOCUS groundwater report (2009). The recommendations given in this paper here are related to tier 1 and tier 2, only. A further publication is planned for the tier 3 and tier 4 assessments in ac-cordance with the principles provided b...read more

Economy | Consumption

Harmonization of test methods for the execution of the EG Construction Products Directive

Validation of a European leaching test for construction products

Apart from the requirements traditionally defined in the building legislation the European Construction Products Directive (CPD) explicitly demands construction works to be built with construction products that meet the requirements on hygiene, health and environment in force in their place of use and not to endanger the health of the occupants and neighbours. However, at present only few Member S...read more

Waste | Resources, Agriculture

Towards a Greening of Pillar 1 and an efficient Pillar 2

Opinion of the Agriculture Commission at the German Federal Environment Agency (KLU) on the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) intends to enable farmers to engage in multifunctional production by providing incentives or compensating farmers for measures and public goods not sufficiently remunerated by the markets but for which there is a societal demand. The CAP thus provides an important foundation for supporting the agricultural sector in meeting the European environmental and sus...read more

Economy | Consumption

Employment effects and needs for vocational training and qualification in the field of energy-saving building refurbishment

Summary and action recommendations

The buildings sector accounts for about 40% of final energy consumption in Germany, and by far the largest part of this is due to old buildings. In total, more than 80% of the final energy consumed in households is used for space heating and hot water (Federal Statistical Office 2010). Implementing the economically worthwhile measures for reducing energy consumption in the buildings sector would p...read more