Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Climate | Energy

Effects of ground-level ozone on vegetation modified by nitrogen and components of climate change: a literature study

Tropospheric ozone is an air pollutant that causes risks to human health and vegetation. This literature study summarises results of experiments, in which the effects of ozone on plants has been investigated in combination with factors of climate change, enhanced concentration of carbon dioxide in the air as well as nitrogen deposition. The results are needed for a sound risk assessment for plants...read more

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

Widening the European Green Deal’s perspective towards a sustainable Europe

Aiming higher - with the right levers of change

The European Green Deal, published by the European Commission in 2019, represents a new and ambitious approach to put environment and sustainability at the heart of European policy. Its ambitions are high, yet the planned measures might not be sufficient to actually meet them. The report analyzes the European Green Deal from the perspective of the German Environment Agency and places it in the con...read more

Chemicals

Development of REACH – Review of evidence on the benefits & costs of REACH

This report is a review of the existing literature which determine the current level of knowledge of the benefits and costs associated with ⁠REACH⁠. The main focus of the review was on the identification of the gaps in the assessment of benefits. The current state of knowledge and any gaps in the benefit and cost data/information were broken down by each single component of REACH reg...read more

Waste | Resources

Contributions to the further development of the EC Waste Shipment Regulation

The application and enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste (“WSR”) rise to special challenges for economic agents and competent authorities.  The classification of waste in one of the annexes of the WSR, and therefore the crucial position for the applicable procedure, is rather complex. During the project the...read more

Chemicals

Advancing REACH - REACH and substitution

Enhancing substitution of substances of concern with less hazardous alternatives will remain a key challenge for chemicals management in the coming years and is a central aim of ⁠REACH⁠. This study analyses the support of substitution, which is the use of less hazardous alternatives for substances of concern, by instruments of the REACH regulation as for example during restriction an...read more

Economy | Consumption

Voluntary offsetting: credits and allowances

Report

To date, the supply of units for the voluntary carbon market has been almost exclusively in the form of credits generated by climate protection projects elsewhere. This report analyses the merits and challenges of another possible source of supply for GHG compensation: allowances from emissions trading systems (ETSs). Yet some ETSs have market stability instruments (MSIs), such as the Market Stabi...read more

Climate | Energy

The transnational impacts of global climate change for Germany

Abridged version

Climate change will affect the frequency, intensity and regional occurrence of extreme weather events and lead to gradual climatic changes. Although climate change impacts appear locally at first, they spread beyond political borders due to the global physical and economic interconnectedness. Depending on a country’s extent of global interdependence and interaction with vulnerable countries, it ma...read more

Climate | Energy

Options for multilateral initiatives to close the global 2030 climate ambition and action gap - Policy field synthetic e-fuels

Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires increased global climate action, especially towards the production and use of synthetic e-fuels. This paper focuses on aviation and maritime transport and the role of green hydrogen for indirect electrification of industry sectors. Based on a sound analysis of existing multilateral cooperation the paper proposes four potential initiatives to incr...read more