Publications

In the second horizon scanning process of the environment department, the following ten emerging future topics have been identified and elaborated that could be of high environmental relevance:

Aviation affects the climate. Combustion of kerosene fuel results in carbon dioxide (CO2), but also other climate-impacting substances whose effects are referred to as "non-CO2 climate effects". What are these substances and how strong are their effects? How strong would the climate impact of air traffic be in the future if flying continues to grow as hitherto?

The term “negligible exposure” to endocrine disruptors has been clarified in context of European plant protection product regulations. For this purpose, a research of scientific, policy and legal literature was performed. Definitions of “negligible exposure” were extracted from publications related to (chemical) substances in the environment.

Trifluoroacetate (TFA) is a very persistent and highly mobile substance that can accumulate in certain environmental compartments. TFA cannot be removed using conventional water treatment methods. Although, according to current knowledge, the acute toxicity of TFA is low, inputs of TFA into water bodies should be avoided as far as possible.

From 2025 onwards, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires large European companies to provide transparency on their impacts on people and the environment. So far, the role of these new reporting rules in the work of environmental authorities has not been systematically analysed and discussed.

The European Climate Law mandates the European Commission to propose a 2040 emissions reduction target by early 2024.

This factsheet analyses the role of nuclear energy in global climate scenarios. It shows, that a global tripling of nuclear capacity until 2050 is neither realistic nor is it needed to achieve climate targets according to the Paris agreement.

Ziel dieses Berichtes ist der Vergleich unterschiedlicher Methodiken, die in Listen oder Datenbanken von Umweltkosten (environmental unit costs) verwendet werden. Diese werden u.A. für Kosten-Nutzen-Analysen und Umwelt- oder Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung genutzt. Die Analyse basiert auf einem Kernset von Listen und Datenbanken, das aus einer Sondierung des Umweltbundesamtes hervorging.

This fact sheet gathers an overview of key aspects with regards to the extension of the EU ETS 1 to maritime transport and herewith related interactions with other EU, international and national policies concerning the shipping sector. An outlook with a view to evaluating and futher developing the system is also provided.

With the 'Fit for 55' package, the EU's energy and climate policy instruments were aligned with the new climate target for 2030 (to reduce emissions by 55 % compared to 1990). One main feature of the Fit for 55 package is the strengthening of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

A new map product for calculating the critical loads for eutrophication and acidification of terrestrial ecosystems and for modelling air quality was created in this project. The spatial extent of the map covers a large number of countries in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The results of this project are map products representing the land cover in 217 EUNIS classes and 13 RCG classes.

The federal government's first waste prevention program (WPP) with the participation of the federal states was passed in 2013 and continued in 2021. The WPP was accompanied by a dialogue process to strengthen communication and networking between those involved in the implementation process.