Plastic waste is a major threat to the marine environment. But how to tackle this problem? The EU Plastics Strategy that is being discussed in the upcoming months can help reduce the input of plastics to the environment if it follows seven recommendations of the European environment agencies.
The “Recommendation on sewage sludge handling” as part of the Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area entered into force in March 2017. It defines the principles for the sustainable handling of sewage sludge in the Baltic Sea region.
The ISC3 is located in the UN-city of Bonn and will be the driving force enabling emerging economies and developing countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The German Environment Agency wants better protection of drinking water against "mobile" contaminants, chemicals which have entered the water cycle because they do not bind to solids such as sand or activated carbon.
The German Environment Agency (UBA) is campaigning for rail freight noise reduction. Solutions include cladding train wheels and brakes to reduce noise directly at the source. Financial reward for quiet trains must be increased, for example with lower track access charges.
Diesel passenger cars exceed European limits for nitrogen dioxide (NOx) on roads at higher levels than previously thought. In 2016 emissions were assumed to be 575 mg NOx/km, but the diesel-fuelled passenger car fleet in Germany actually had average emissions of 767 mg NOx/km. These findings are based on new calculations done on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UBA).
International conference discusses concept of planetary boundaries
Representative survey on environmental awareness by the Federal Ministry of Environment and UBA: 91 per cent said that life would be better if they did not have to depend on a car for mobility.
The roughly 1,900 fixed installations participating in emissions trading in 2016 had emissions worth 453 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents, or 0.6 per cent less than in 2015. The lower emissions in the emissions trading sector thus did not offset the 3.8-per cent increase over 2015 in Germany’s transport sector emissions which the UBA had calculated in its short-term forecast.
The service life of most electrical appliances and equipment is becoming ever shorter – at the expense of the environment. The production of new models requires the consumption of valuable precious metals and energy which are not compensated by innovations such as lower energy use. UBA has drafted policy recommendations that will be fed into the European debate about the Circular Economy Package.
Air pollution, noise, traffic jams, too few green spaces – these are the problems that plague many people living in cities. In a new publication UBA paints a picture of how the future-fit city might look.
An area of 66 hectares of new land is consumed every day in Germany, with severe negative effects on the environment. UBA recommends a fixed quota regime for land and a certificate trading system.
