Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Transport

International Cycling Conference 2017

Bridging the gap between research and practice 19-21 September 2017, Mannheim, Germany

The Conference Proceedings are the final report of the International Cycling Conference (ICC) which took place from 19 until 21 September 2017 in Mannheim, Germany. Marking the 200th birthday of the bicycle this interdisciplinary and international three-day conference by the German Environment Agency emphasized the importance of cycling from an international perspective. 292 participants, 90 prese...read more

Chemicals

Development of an analytical method for the quantification of surfactants and its application to wastewater treatment plant effluents

Surfactants are a major component of many detergents and household cleansers, and therefore, they also reach surface waters to a certain extent. In order to estimate the resulting environmental risk, two surfactant groups (i.e., LAS and AES) were determined by target analysis in 33 wastewater samples from German sewage treatment plants. Additionally, several other surfactants and their degradation...read more

Economy | Consumption, Transport

Guide on green public procurement: Buses

Environmental requirements in tendering procedures for buses are intended to reduce the significant pollutant, greenhouse gas and noise emissions occasioned by buses, particularly in urban environments and areas in need of protection. Hence the requirements recommended in this guide apply to buses used for urban transport, but can also be used for interurban and long-distance buses. These requirem...read more

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

A Guide to Environmental Administration in Germany

The German Environment Agency has developed a guide in English to provide a concise introduction to the German environmental administration for an international readership. The guide is divided into five sections: After the introduction in Section 1, Section 2 introduces the wide range of subjects related to environmental protection in Germany. This is followed by Section 3, which describes the ar...read more

Climate | Energy

Low-Carbon Europe 2050

Decomposition analysis of long-term projections for the European Union and selected Member States

In order to elaborate the scenario “Greenhousegas Neutral Europe“ UBA has commissioned a survey on levers relevant for decarbonisation in selected energy scenarios. Overall, significant mitigation potential can be observed in the power sector, although scenarios differ in realizing emissions reductions in 2050. The respective levers for decarbonisation in the sectors are: Renewable energies in the...read more

Waste | Resources

Appropriate Evaluation Benchmarks and Indicators for Measuring the Success of Waste Prevention Measures

With reference to the federal Waste Prevention Programme (WPP), the Circular Economy Act stipulates that standards for waste prevention measures must be specified to record the progress made in decoupling the effects on people and the environment associated with waste generation from economic growth. The WPP identifies possible indicators, but it is unknown to which extent they can represent waste...read more

Transport

Test scenarios for the determination of sound emissions

from road, rail, industry and the calculation of the propagation of sound (BUB), the calculation of environmental noise from airports (BUF) and assessment of the noise exposure of affected persons (BEB) according to Directive (EU) 2015/996

In order to improve the noise situation in Europe, the EU issued the Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/EC) in 2002. Noise pollution is to be determined in noise maps by means of harmonized assessment methods. For this purpose, the EU has developed these methods under the acronym CNOSSOS-EU (Common Noise Assessment Methods in Europe) with the participation of the Member States. A quality assur...read more

Waste | Resources

Regional and local optimisation of material flows and cycles

Areas of action, case studies and recommendations for municipalities

On the basis of five case studies, the brochure "Regional and local optimization of material flows and cycles" shows how municipalities can contribute to resource conservation by optimising regional material cycles, which challenges they face and which framework conditions are necessary for successful implementation. The brochure was developed as part of the "RegioRess" project, which shows that a...read more