Publications | Umweltbundesamt

Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

International Environmental and Sustainability Policy During and After the Covid-19 Pandemic

The position paper discusses the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the global economy and geopolitics, for the countries of the Global South and for international environmental and sustainability policy. On this basis, the paper proposes approaches for a substantive reorientation of international environmental and sustainability policy. For example, the nexus of environment and health shou...read more

Wirtschaft | KonsumNachhaltigkeit | Strategien | Internationales

The Green New Consensus: Study Shows Broad Consensus on Green Recovery Programmes and Structural Reforms

The paper analyses 130 studies on green recovery programmes. It finds broad consensus on the need to use the Covid-19 recovery efforts to also address the climate and biodiversity crises. Consensus also exist on the benefits of green recovery programmes, the eligibility criteria to be applied and suitable areas of support. Further, research is increasingly calling for linking green recovery progra...read more

Health

Establishment of human biomonitoring at EU level within the framework of the EHBMI (European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, HBM4EU)

The report gives an overview on synergies between the two EU-projects BRIDGE HEALTH and HBM4EU with respect to the linkage of human biomonitoring studies and health studies. As this project aimed to use and further develop the knowledge and experience from BRIDGE HEALTH in HBM4EU, relevant results of BRIDGE HEALTH were summarised and recommendations for respective HBM4EU work packages were made.Mo...read more

Chemicals, Water

Validation of the NSAID in vitro assay for biomonitoring of NSAID activities in surface waters

The NSAID in vitro-Bioassay – originally developed for municipal waste water samples – can now be used to detect activity of cox-inhibitors in surface waters as well. By using 44 water samples from several European countries the application range and quality of this bioassay was increased and the limit of detection is further reduced to now 12 ng diclofenac/l. In this project other characteristics...read more

Climate | Energy

Background Paper: Key mitigation options to close the global 2030 ambition and action gap

Staying within the limit of the Paris Agreement of 1.5 °C global warming requires closing the global 2030 ambition and action gap arising from insufficient current policies and contributions. G20 countries have a crucial role to play in realising increased climate policy ambition, given their strong economic and political influence as well as their high share in global greenhouse gas emissions. Th...read more

Water

Environmental Protection in Maritime Traffic – Scrubber Wash Water Survey

Discharge water samples from Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS, scrubbers) were taken on board of ships and analyzed in terms of heavy metals and PAKs. The distribution of wash water and potential concentration of pollutants were simulated with a dispersion model for the North- and Baltic Sea. Results showed increased pollutant concentrations, especially in the closed-loop EGCS waters, and that t...read more

Air

The Ozone Situation in Germany

State of knowledge, research gaps and recommendations

The threat to human health and vegetation by ozone is still an important topic in politics, science and the public in Germany. A workshop organized by the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam) addressed this issue. Experts discussed the current state of knowledge on processes relevant for ozone, the need for improvement con...read more

Chemicals

Do new generations of active pharmaceuticals for human use require an adaption of the environmental risk assessment?, Part I: Literature review

Since 2006, various new active pharmaceutical ingredients have been developed with highly specific mechanisms of action. That raise the question of whether current environmental risk assessment within the scope of the authorization is still sufficient to appropriately assess relevant effects on environmental organisms. In this literature review the scientific basis for a tailored risk assessment w...read more