Publications

This executive summary presents shortly the contents of the six sub-reports of the "Climate Impact and Risk Analysis 2021 for Germany", for which 102 climate impacts and 13 fields of action were investigated and assessed. The methodology and the basics of the projections as well as the generic adaptation capacity are addressed.

This study presents in detail: the use of plastic products and the opportunities for recyclate use in the construction sector, quantities of plastic used, take-back systems, recycling techniques, current recyclate use and plastic construction product packaging.Potentials for increasing high-quality recyclate use were identified.

Multilateral initiatives and cooperation can be effective means to increase ambition and action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. This synthesis report summarizes the proposals for new initiatives in four policy fields – energy transition, synthetic e-fuels, sustainable food systems and forest protection.

Under Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) we summarise all relevant technologies for capturing, transport, and the subsequent utilisation of carbon. In the promising perspective CCU seems to reduce emissions by substitution of fossil products. For the evaluation we have to apply a more holistic view on these technologies and especially their energy consumption.

Monetizing climate costs is an important instrument to highlight the benefits of climate protection. This research report presents and compares the damage cost and the mitigation cost approaches. Both approaches are fundamentally different and for different questions either the one or the other gives the conceptionally correct answer.

This documentation summarises the presentations and the discussions of the international online conference "Limiting Health Impacts of Construction Products regarding Volatile Organic Compounds" organised by the German Environment Agency in April 2021.

A global, inclusive goal for the sustainable use of chemicals is needed to safeguard both societal wellbeing and earth’s life-sustaining capacity

Over the past 10 years, the amount of packaging generated across the EU has increased by almost 18 percent, with around 66 percent of packaging waste being recycled. The revision of the Packaging Directive should therefore primarily help to strengthen waste prevention, the recyclability of packaging and the use of recyclates and further develop information requirements.

Electricity generation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in many countries. Most emissions trading systems (ETS) therefore address emissions from electricity generation. The de-sign of an ETS and the structure and regulation of the electricity sector have a large impact on the environmental effectiveness and the quality of the carbon price signal.

In October 2020, the European Commission launched the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability that calls to counter emerging risk with preventive action. This report aims to place this strategy in the context of the debate on the precautionary principle in the EU and to derive policy options to advance REACH in order to strengthen the control of emerging risk.

A guide of the German Environment Agency (UBA) supports public administrations being a role model of climate protection. To this end, it presents nine stages on the path to greenhouse gas neutral administration. For each stage, it describes the steps and challenges and provides practical recommendations for all relevant issues.

Environmental authorities globally are challenged with the complexity of problems associated with contaminated sites. For protecting human beings and the quality of the environmental media air, water and soil, the prevention and elimination of hazards as well as impact mitigation are crucial.