Publications

Air pollution Emissions from shipping, especially SOX, NOX, and PM, are perceived increasingly as a problem for human health and the environment. Efforts by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce these emissions by international agreements have not achieved adequate results.

International shipping is believed to have emitted between 428 and 913 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in 2001. Reduction measures are needed. The report analyses the feasibility of a cap-and-trade system for CO₂ emissions from international shipping linked to the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).

Since Summer 2007, Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) and IFEU (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a non-profit limited liability company, Heidelberg) are carrying out the project “Development of Strategies and Sustainability Standards for the Certification of Biomass for International Trade (Bio-global)” on behalf of Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Agency) .

The propellant gases of OCF – first CFCs, then HCFCs, finally HFCs – have been subject to environmental legislation.

On the CD-ROM you will find the complete contents of the internet application ‘Data on the Environment’ (in German, 2009). The brochure is designed to tell you about selected significant trends within five important areas of environmental protection.

Carbon dioxide emissions decrease almost continuously. The reductions are in equal parts due to economic restructuring in the new Federal States followed by a decrease in lignite use, and the active climate protection policy of the Federal Government.  

In fact, the WTO admissibility of introducing environmentally motivated border tax adjustments (BTAs) via import taxes has not yet been definitively clarified neither by the WTO Panel and the Appellate Body nor in the jurisprudential literature.

Perfluorinated und polyfluorinated chemicals (PFC) are the subject of increasing public debate. Particular interest has been focussed on studies carried out by the Ruhr University in Bochum, which show that certain of these chemicals are absorbed into the human body through drinking water, where they accumulate. 

In Germany, emission allowances (European Union Allowances, EUAs) for the first trading period (2005-2007) were allocated completely free of charge. In the second trading period (2008-2012) annual volumes of 40 million EUAs will be sold (Article 19 ZuG (Zuteilungsgesetz – The German Allocation Act) 2012).

The investigations performed on laser printers essentially served as a revision of the test method for the determination of emissions from hardcopy devices for the environmental awar 'Blue Angel' for office devices according to RAL-UZ 62, 85 and 114 of Juni 2003. The resulting test procedure according to RAL.UZ 122 was prviously published in Juni 2006.

It is the purpose of Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive) to regulate the exclusion of certain harmful substances from being used in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE).

It is important to define requirements and quality criteria for sustainable chemistry and provide for possible solutions to be measurable, assessable and practicable. Hence, the concept of sustainable chemistry has to develop and propagate successful approaches.