Publications

Coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrass meadows and tidal marshes, function as natural carbon sinks, thereby playing a vital role in the global carbon cycle. These Blue Carbon ecosystems have been found to be effective carbon storage mechanisms, whilst also providing a habitat for biodiversity and enhancing coastal resilience.

The REACH Regulation (EC 1907/2006) ensures chemical safety by requiring rigorous risk assessments before market entry. Safety data sheets (SDS) are vital for communicating safe usage guidelines, yet deficiencies are common, with up to 52% of SDSs found to be inadequate.

The UBA aims to contribute to the development of an EU guidance document on risk assessment for amphibians. As part of the project, data on the toxicity of various pesticides to amphibians were systematically researched, processed, and supplemented with its own experiments to establish a scientific basis for risk assessment.

There is already more than a decade of experiences with environmental risk assessment under the Biocidal Products Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 (BPR). This paper compiles recommendations to improve BPR to ensure that it reaches its goals.

Global efforts to reduce emissions remain inadequate which resulted in an increasing need for negative emission technologies that actively remove and permanently sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. On top of this, methane is a key precursor for the formation of ground-level ozone. Ozone is linked to negative health effects whilst also damaging ecosystems and crops. Reducing methane emissions thus contributes to climate protection and also helps protect public health and ecosystems.

Plant protection products (PPPs) can be transported from the target area to other environmental compartments, e.g. groundwater. To minimize potential negative impacts, their environmental fate is assessed as part of the PPPs authorization process.

European emissions trading (EU ETS) is a central component of German and European climate policy.

This publication compares different methodological approaches to accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands in Germany: national GHG reporting under the UN Climate Convention, corporate reporting based on the GHG Protocol, and standards for peatland climate protection projects. It analyses differences in objectives, spatial and temporal references, and methodological accuracy.

The EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) replaces the free allocation in the EU ETS 1 as the main carbon leakage instrument. The study discusses the potential expansion of the CBAM to downstream products.

The HBEFA (Handbook for Emission Factors in Road Transport) is an IT application that provides emission factors (EF) for greenhouse gases, air pollutants, and final energy consumption factors for all relevant vehicle categories in road transport. The emission factors can be differentiated in the HBEFA according to "traffic situations" (VS).

As part of its statutory duties in the field of chemical safety, the German Environment Agency (UBA) is responsible for the environmental risk assessment of chemicals.