COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review Country Report - GERMANY Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions The EU Environmental Implementation Review: Common Challenges and how to combine efforts to deliver better results
Date: 2017-02-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU initiative, Germany, application of EU law, environmental law, environmental protection, pollution control measures

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.2.2017  SWD(2017) 38 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review Country Report - GERMANY   Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions The EU Environmental Implementation Review: Common Challenges and how to combine efforts to deliver better results   {COM(2017) 63 final} {SWD(2017) 33 - 37 final} {SWD(2017) 39 - 60 final}  
 
 
Germany  2 

This  report  has  been  written  by  the  staff  of  the  Directorate-General  for  Environment,  European 
Commission. Any comments are welcome to the following e-mail address: ENV-EIR@ec.europa.eu  

More information on the European Union is available on the internet (http://europa.eu). 

Photographs: p.11 – ©LIFE06 ENV/D/000485/Mario Manthey; p.12 – ©Michael Luhrenberg/iStock; 
p.16 – ©HyKoe/iStock; p.24 – ©ungorf/iStock 

For reproduction or use of these photos, permission must be sought directly from the copyright 
holder. 

©European Union, 2017 

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Germany  3 

Table of Content 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 4 

PART I: THEMATIC AREAS ............................................................................................................................... 5 

1. 

TURNING  THE  EU  INTO  A  CIRCULAR,  RESOURCE-EFFICIENT,  GREEN  AND  COMPETITIVE  LOW-
CARBON ECONOMY ............................................................................................................................... 5 

Developing a circular economy and improving resource efficiency ..................................................... 5 
Waste management .............................................................................................................................. 7 

2. 

PROTECTING, CONSERVING AND ENHANCING NATURAL CAPITAL ....................................................... 9 

Nature and Biodiversity ......................................................................................................................... 9 
Estimating Natural Capital................................................................................................................... 10 
Green Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................... 11 
Soil protection ..................................................................................................................................... 12 
Marine protection ............................................................................................................................... 13 

3. 

ENSURING CITIZENS' HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE .......................................................................... 15 

Air quality ............................................................................................................................................ 15 
Water quality and management ......................................................................................................... 17 
Enhancing the sustainability of cities .................................................................................................. 18 
International agreements ................................................................................................................... 19 

PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK: IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ..................................................................... 20 

4.  MARKET BASED INSTRUMENTS AND INVESTMENT ............................................................................ 20 

Green taxation and environmentally harmful subsidies ..................................................................... 20 
Green Public Procurement .................................................................................................................. 21 
Investments: contribution of EU funds ............................................................................................... 21 

5. EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................................... 24 

Effective governance within central, regional and local government ................................................. 24 
Compliance assurance ......................................................................................................................... 25 
Public participation and access to justice ........................................................................................... 27 
Access to information, knowledge and evidence ................................................................................ 27 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
Executive summary 

Germany  4 

About the Environmental Implementation Review 

launched 

reports  describing 

the 
the  Commission 
In  May  2016, 
Environmental  Implementation  Review  (EIR),  a  two-year 
cycle  of  analysis,  dialogue  and  collaboration  to  improve 
the  implementation  of  existing  EU  environmental  policy 
and  legislation1.  As  a  first  step,  the  Commission  drafted 
28 
the  main  challenges  and 
opportunities on environmental implementation for each 
Member  State.  These  reports  are  meant  to  stimulate  a 
positive debate both on shared environmental challenges 
for  the  EU,  as  well  as  on  the  most  effective  ways  to 
address the key implementation gaps. The reports rely on 
the detailed sectoral implementation reports collected or 
issued  by  the  Commission  under  specific  environmental 
legislation  as  well  as  the  2015  State  of  the  Environment 
Report  and  other  reports  by  the  European  Environment 
Agency.  These  reports  will  not  replace  the  specific 
instruments  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  EU  legal 
obligations.  

The  reports  will  broadly  follow  the  outline  of  the  7th 
Environmental Action Programme2 and refer to the 2030 
related 
for  Sustainable  development  and 
Agenda 
Sustainable Development  Goals  (SDGs)3  to  the  extent  to 
which  they  reflect  the  existing  obligations  and  policy 
objectives of EU environmental law4.  

The  main  challenges  have  been  selected  by  taking  into 
account factors such as the importance or the gravity of 
the  environmental  implementation  issue  in  the  light  of 
the  impact  on  the  quality  of  life  of  the  citizens,  the 
distance to target, and financial implications. 

The  reports  accompany  the  Communication  "The  EU 
Environmental  Implementation  Review  2016:  Common 
challenges  and  how  to  combine  efforts  to  deliver  better 
results", which identifies challenges that are common to 
several Member States, provides preliminary conclusions 
on  possible  root  causes  of  implementation  gaps  and 
proposes  joint  actions  to  deliver  better  results.  It  also 
groups in its Annex the actions proposed in each country 
report to improve implementation at national level. 

General profile 

Germany  has a  strong  set of  environmental policies  and 
laws.  In  general  there  is  good  implementation  of  EU 
law  and  the  government  follows  a 
environmental 

1 Communication "Delivering the benefits of EU environmental policies 

through a regular Environmental Implementation Review" 
(COM/2016/ 316 final). 

2 Decision No. 1386/2013/EU of 20 November 2013 on a General Union 
Environmental Action Programme to 2020 "Living well, within the 
limits of our planet". 

3 United Nations, 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals  
4 This EIR report does not cover climate change, chemicals and energy. 

strategy 

in  developing 

proactive 
comprehensive 
environmental  policies  at  the  national  level.  The  move 
towards  a  circular  economy  is  characterised  by  high 
recycling  rates,  no  landfill,  high  worldwide  demand  for 
German 
eco-innovation 
and 
performance. 

technology 

good 

The following key priorities have been selected by taking 
into  account  factors  such  as  the  importance  or  the 
gravity of the environmental implementation problem in 
the  light  of  the  impact  on  the  quality  of  life  of  the 
citizens, the distance to target, the financial implications 
of the problem.  

Main Challenges 

three  main 

The 
to 
implementation  of  EU  environmental  policy  and  law  in 
Germany are: 

challenges  with 

regard 

 

Improve  air  quality 
(NOx,  PM10)  which  could 
contribute considerably to improving citizens' health 
and quality of life. 

  Address  water  pollution  in  particular  by  nitrates  to 
improve  the  groundwater  quality  and  the  water 
quality in the Baltic and the North Sea. 

  Complete  the  designation  process  for  Special  Areas 
of  Conversation  and  put  in  place  clearly  defined 
conservation  objectives  and  measures  for  the  site 
and provide adequate resources. 

Main Opportunities 

Germany  could  perform  better  on  topics  where  there  is 
already  a  good  knowledge  base  and  good  practices.  In 
particular Germany could: 

  Take 

further  steps  to  reduce  environmentally 

 

harmful subsidies. 
Improve  cooperation between  the different Länder 
to  better  achieve  the  objectives  for  the  marine 
environment. 

Points of Excellence 

Where  Germany 
leader  on  environmental 
implementation,  innovative  approaches  could  be  shared 
more widely with other countries. Good examples are: 

is  a 

  High recycling rate of municipal waste, no landfill 
  Advanced approach as regards Green Infrastructure, 
Infrastructure  concept 
with  a  national  Green 
(planned),  a  Federal  Blue  Ecological  network 
Programme 
(planned)  and  the  Emscher  valley 
restoration project as an example 

  The  Sustainable  Development  Strategy  with  its  goal 

to limit land take rate (30 ha/d) until 2020. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
Part I: Thematic Areas 

Germany  5 

1. Turning the EU into a circular, resource-efficient, green and 

competitive low-carbon economy 

Developing a circular economy and improving 
resource efficiency 

The 2015 Circular Economy Package emphasizes the need 
to  move  towards  a  lifecycle-driven  ‘circular’  economy, 
with a cascading use of resources and residual waste that 
is  close  to  zero.  This  can  be  facilitated  by  the 
development  of,  and  access  to,  innovative  financial 
instruments and funding for eco-innovation. 

SDG  8  invites  countries  to  promote  sustained,  inclusive 
and  sustainable  economic  growth,  full  and  productive 
employment  and  decent  work  for  all.  SDG  9  highlights 
infrastructure,  promote 
the  need  to  build  resilient 
inclusive  and  sustainable  industrialization  and  foster 
innovation.  SDG 12  encourages countries  to  achieve  the 
sustainable  management  and  efficient  use  of  natural 
resources by 2030. 

Measures towards a circular economy 

Transforming our economies from linear to circular offers 
an  opportunity  to  reinvent  them  and  make  them  more 
stimulate 
sustainable  and  competitive.  This  will 
investments and bring both short and long-term benefits 
for the economy, environment and citizens alike5. 

The  circular  economy  concept  increasingly  permeates 
into  Germany's  political  programmes  and  objectives.  In 
2002,  the  Federal  Government  had  already  embedded 
the  goal  to  double  the  German  resource  productivity 
(how efficiently the economy uses material resources to 
produce  wealth)  by  2020  compared  to  1994  in  its 
sustainable development strategy. 
In  2012  Germany  set  up  its  ProgRess  programme6  in 
order to promote resource efficiency. To reach the aim of 
decupling economic growth from the use of resources it 
contains  guiding  principles  and  concrete  actions.  A 
coordinated  implementation  is  followed  by  a  national 
(“Nationale  Plattform  Ressourceneffizienz" 
platform 
(NaRess))  which 
includes  representatives  from  the 
economy  as  well  as  environmental  and  consumer 
organisations  and  trade  unions. 
Information  most 
relevant  to  SME  are  provided  by  the  VDI  Centre  for 
Resource  Efficiency  (VDI  ZRE),  a  competence  centre  of 
the  Association  of  German  Engineers  working  on  behalf 

5 European Commission, 2015. Proposed Circular Economy Package 
6 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building 

and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) Germany: Deutsches 
Ressourceneffizienzprogramm (ProgRess) February 2012 

of  the  Federal  Ministry  of  the  Environment,  Nature 
Safety,  Building  and  Nuclear  Safety  (BMUB).  In  March 
2016,  the  federal  government  adopted  a  successor 
programme, ProgRess II (2016-2019), which encompasses 
a total of 123 different resource efficiency measures and 
aims to decisively contribute to the transition towards a 
circular economy. The waste and circular economy policy 
realm  remains  a  focus  area  but  aspects  of  “sustainable 
building  and  sustainable  urban  development”  as  well  as 
“resource  efficiency  of  information  and  communications 
technology  (ICT)  products”  have  been  taken  up 
in 
ProgRess  II.  This  approach  to  resource  efficiency  at  the 
national  level  is  supported  by  additional  programmes, 
measures and actions at regional level.  

The  German  green  tech  sector  is  expected  to  continue 
developing  dynamically  in  the  coming  years  and  the 
market  for  environmental  technology  and  resource 
efficiency  is  estimated  to  be  worth  EUR  344  billion,  of 
which material efficiency covers EUR 48 billion and waste 
management  and  recycling  encompasses  EUR  17  billion. 
Until 2025 the domestic green tech market is expected to 
rise  up  to  a  volume  of  EUR 740 billion,  while  annual 
growth  in  the  German  environmental  technology  and 
resource efficiency sector is likely to average 6.6 percent 
during this period7.  

There is high demand for German technology and know-
how worldwide. German companies have, for example, a 
global  market  share  of  64%  in  technologies  for  the 
automated  separation  of  materials,  such  as  the  optical 
and sensor based identification and separation of various 
plastic fractions in waste. By 2020, annual growth of 15% 
for waste sorting technologies is expected and the waste 
market is expected to grow at least 3% annually8. 

Employment  in  the  environmental  goods  and  services 
sector  has  increased  by  101,680  full-time  equivalents 
(FTE) in 2007 to 490,558 FTE in 20129.  
As as regards resource productivity10 (how efficiently the 
economy  uses  material  resources  to  produce  wealth) 
Germany (2014) is with 2.17 EUR/kg in the mid-range of 

7 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building 
and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) Germany "GreenTech made in Germany 
4.0" July 2014 

8 Eco-innovation Observatory: Eco-Innovation scoreboard 2015 
9 Eurostat, Employment in the environmental goods and services sector, 

accessed June 2016 

10 Resource productivity is defined as the ratio between gross domestic 

product (GDP) and domestic material consumption (DMC). 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
                                                            
Germany  6 

all  member  states  (EU  average:  2.09 EUR/kg)  due  to  its 
export-oriented  economy.  Figure  1  shows  a  modest  but 
stable increase in resource productivity since 2003. 
Figure 1: Resource productivity 2003-1511 

SMEs and resource efficiency 

In  the  Flash  426  Eurobarometer  "SMEs,  resource 
efficiency  and  green  markets"  it  is  shown  that  54%  of 
Germany's SMEs have invested up to 5% of their  annual 
turnover 
in  their  resource  efficiency  actions  (EU28 
average  50%),  31%  of  them  are  currently  offering  green 
products  and  services  (EU28  average  26%),  62%  took 
measures  to  save  energy  (EU28  average  59%),  42%  to 
minimise waste (EU28 average 60%), 32% to save water 
(EU28  average  44%),  and  45%  to  save  materials  (EU28 
average 54%). From a circular economy perspective, 38% 
took  measures  to  recycle  by  reusing  material  or  waste 
within  the company (EU28 average  40%),  12% to  design 
products  that  are  easier  to  maintain,  repair  or  reuse 
(EU28 average 22%) and 22% were able to sell their scrap 
material to another company (EU28 average 25%). 

According to the Flash 426 Eurobarometer, the resource 
efficiency  actions  undertaken  allowed  the  reduction  of 
production  costs  in  45%  of  the  Germany's  SMEs  (EU28 
average 42%). 

The Flash 426 Eurobarometer "SMEs, resource efficiency 
and  green  markets"  shows  that  27%  of  the  SMEs  in 
Germany  have  one  or  more  full  time  employee  working 
in  a  green  job  at  least  some  of  the  time  (EU28  average 
35%).  Germany  has  an  average  number  of  2.0  full  time 
green employees per SME (EU28 average 1.7%)12. 
According  to  recent  research13  new  policy  instruments 

11 Eurostat, Resource productivity, accessed October 2016 
12 The Flash 426 Eurobarometer "SMEs, resource efficiency and green 

markets" defines "green job" as a job that directly deals with 
information, technologies, or materials that preserves or restores 
environmental quality. This requires specialised skills, knowledge, 
training, or experience (e.g. verifying compliance with environmental 
legislation, monitoring resource efficiency within the company, 
promoting and selling green products and services). 

13 Wilts, H., 2016, Nachhaltige Innovationsprozesse in der kommunalen 
Abfallwirtschaftspolitik – eine vergleichende Analyse zum Transition 

The 

framework 

that  go  beyond  the  existing  legal  waste  instruments  are 
still  required  on  all  different  levels.  Such  instruments 
could include product design which enables recycling, or 
the support of business models that contribute to waste 
needs 
regulatory 
prevention. 
strengthening as circular economy policy is not consistent 
due  to  too  many  coexisting  schemes  that  are  designed 
according  to  the  classical  linear  system,  e.g.,  concerning 
the transport of construction and demolition waste to be 
and  overlapping 
reused 
responsibilities  among  various 
levels  and 
ministries  are  another  barrier  in  this  context.  This  also 
includes the question of the relation and responsibilities 
of  municipalities  and  private  waste  companies  that  are 
not  organised  from  a 
long-term  circular  economy 
perspective  but  rather  as  to  short-term  market  shares 
and competition. 

resources.  Unclear 

federal 

as 

Eco-Innovation 
Figure 2: Eco-Innovation Index 2015 (EU=100)14 

Germany  has  the  fourth  highest  eco-innovation  (EI) 
performance  in  the  EU  according  to  the  2014-15  Eco-
Innovation Scoreboard.  
Germany  has  1200  EMAS  registered  organisations15, 
which makes it the biggest achiever in terms of EMAS in 

Management städtischer Infrastrukturen in deutschen 
Metropolregionen 

14 Eco-innovation Observatory: Eco-Innovation scoreboard 2015 
15 Eurostat: Organisations and sites with eco-management and audit 

scheme (EMAS) registration, 2015 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
 
                                                                                                 
the EU. Indeed, it represents 30% of the total registration 
(3921). 

Figure  3:  Municipal  waste  by  treatment  in  Germany 
2007-1419 

Germany  7 

Suggested action 

  Further strengthen the existing circular economy policy 

framework. 

Waste management  

Turning waste into a resource requires: 
 

implementation  of  Union  waste 

Full 
legislation, 
which  includes  the  waste  hierarchy;  the  need  to 
ensure  separate  collection  of  waste;  the  landfill 
diversion targets etc. 

  Reducing  per  capita  waste  generation  and  waste 

 

generation in absolute terms. 
Limiting energy recovery to non-recyclable materials 
and  phasing  out 
recyclable  or 
recoverable waste. 

landfilling  of 

SDG  12  invites  countries  to  substantially  reduce  waste 
generation  through  prevention,  reduction,  recycling  and 
reuse, by 2030. 
The EU's approach to waste management is based on the 
"waste  hierarchy"  which  sets  out  an  order  of  priority 
when  shaping  waste  policy  and  managing  waste  at  the 
operational 
level:  prevention,  (preparing  for)  reuse, 
recycling,  recovery  and,  as  the  least  preferred  option, 
disposal  (which 
incineration 
includes 
without energy recovery). 

landfilling  and 

The  progress  towards  reaching  recycling  targets  and the 
adoption  of  adequate  WMP/WPP16  should  be  the  key 
items  to  measure  the  performance  of  Member  States. 
This section focuses on management of municipal waste 
for which EU law sets mandatory recycling targets. 
Municipal waste17 generation has remained practically at 
the same level (618 kg/y/inhabitant in 2014, the last year 
for  which  data  is  available)  in  Germany  in the  last  three 
years.  The  figure  increased  slightly  between  2008  and 
2010  and  remained  stable  in  2011  and  2012,  a  rate 
higher  than  the  EU  average18  (474  kg/y/inhabitant)  as 
shown in Figure 3.  

Figure  3  depicts  the  municipal  waste  by  treatment  in 
Germany  in  terms  of  kg  per  capita,  which  shows  that 
recycling  is  the  most  common  treatment  operation  and 
that  recycling,  composting  and  landfilling  has  remained 
practically the same during the last years.  

Germany  is  among  the  top  performers  in  the  EU  with 
regard  to  waste  management  with  high  recycling  of 
municipal  solid  waste  (64%)  and  very  low  landfilling 
(0.3%). The incineration rate (including energy recovery) 
stands at 35%.  

Figure 4 shows that Germany has already reached the EU 
2020 recycling target20 and is well above the EU average 
of 44%. 
Figure 4: Recycling rate of municipal waste 2007-1421 

In  order  to  meet  the  proposed  future  targets  (65% 
recycling of municipal waste and between 55% and 85% 
for packaging waste by 2030) (COM(2015)595, 594), and 

16 Waste Management Plans/Waste Prevention Programmes 
17 Municipal waste consists of waste collected by or on behalf of 

municipal authorities, or directly by the private sector (business or 
private non-profit institutions) not on behalf of municipalities. 
18 In the EIR we are referring to the data MS annually report to ESTAT 

on the basis of the Joint Questionnaire which provides for a common 
base line. 

19 Eurostat, Municipal waste and treatment, by type of treatment 

method, accessed October 2016 

20 Member States may choose a different method than the one used by 
ESTAT (and referred to in this report) to calculate their recycling rates 
and track compliance with the 2020 target of 50% recycling of 
municipal waste. 

21 Eurostat, Recycling rate of municipal waste, accessed October 2016 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
 
                                                            
 
Germany  8 

to  fully  implement  the  waste  hierarchy,  future  efforts 
should  be  related  to  further  increasing  recycling  rates 
and  reducing  energy  recovery  of  recyclable  waste.  In 
2005  measures  were  taken  to  effectively  ban  landfilling 
of  waste  with  a  high  calorific  value.  Extended  Producer 
Responsibility  (EPR)  systems  are  in  place  for  different 
waste streams. 

Incentive systems to favour prevention and participation 
in  separate  collection  (Pay  as  you  through  -  PAYT) 
schemes  are  in  place  but  not  across  the  whole  country. 
Where they are in place they are highly efficient. 

Germany has 16 regional waste management plans, two 
of them are outdated and currently under review. 

Suggested action 

  Introduce  new  economic  instruments  to  implement 
further  the  waste  hierarchy,  i.e.  promote  prevention, 
make 
recycling  more  economically 
attractive,  and  shift  reusable  and  recyclable  waste 
away from incineration. 

reuse  and 

  The  cost  effectiveness  of  the  EPR  systems  in  place 
should be further analysed and improved if required. 
  Complete  missing  Waste  Management  Plans  in  order 

to cover the whole territory. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Protecting, conserving and enhancing natural capital 

Germany  9 

Nature and Biodiversity  

The  EU  Biodiversity  Strategy  aims  to  halt  the  loss  of 
biodiversity  in  the  EU  by  2020,  restore  ecosystems  and 
their services in so far as feasible, and step up efforts to 
avert  global  biodiversity  loss.  The  EU  Birds  and  Habitats 
Directives  aim  at  achieving  favourable  conservation 
status of protected species and habitats.  

SDG  14  requires  countries  to  conserve  and  sustainably 
use the oceans, seas and marine resources, while SDG 15 
requires  countries  to  protect,  restore  and  promote  the 
sustainable  use  of  terrestrial  ecosystems,  sustainably 
manage  forests,  combat  desertification,  and  halt  and 
reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. 

The  1992  EU  Habitats  Directive  and  the  1979  Birds 
Directive are the cornerstone of the European legislation 
aimed  at  the  conservation  of  the  EU's  wildlife.  Natura 
2000, the largest coordinated network of protected areas 
in  the  world,  is  the  key  instrument  to  achieve  and 
implement the Directives' objectives to ensure the  long-
term  protection,  conservation  and  survival  of  Europe's 
most  valuable  and  threatened  species  and  habitats  and 
the ecosystems they underpin. 

The  adequate  designation  of  protected  sites  as  Special 
Ares  of  Conservation  (SAC)  under  the  Habitats  Directive 
and  as  Special  Protection  Areas  (SPA)  under  the  Birds 
Directive 
is  a  key  milestone  towards  meeting  the 
objectives  of  the  Directives.  The  results  of  Habitats 
Directive Article 17 and Birds Directive Article 12 reports 
and  the  progress  towards  adequate  Sites  of  Community 
Importance (SCI)-SPA and SAC designation22 both in land 
and  at  sea,  should  be  the  key  items  to  measure  the 
performance of Member States. 

By  early  2016,  15.4%  of  the  national  land  area  of 
Germany is covered by Natura 2000 (EU average 18.1%), 
with  Birds  Directive  Special  Protection  Areas  (SPAs) 
(EU  average  12.3%)  and  Habitats 
covering  11.3% 
Directive SCIs covering 9.4% (EU average 13.8%). 

The latest assessment of the Natura 2000 network shows 
that  there  are  minor  insufficiencies  in  SCIs  designation 
for the terrestrial component of the network in a limited 
number of Länder23 as shown in Figure 524. 

22 Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) are designated pursuant to the 
Habitats Directive whereas Special Areas of Protection (SPAs) are 
designated pursuant to the Birds Directive; figures of coverage do 
not add up due to the fact that some SCIs and SPAs overlap. Special 
Areas of Conservation (SACs) means a SCI designated by the Member 
States. 

23 For each Member State, the Commission assesses whether the 
species and habitat types on Annexes I and II of the Habitats 
Directive, are sufficiently represented by the sites designated to 

Figure  5:  Sufficiency  assessment  of  SCI  networks  in 
Germany  based  on  the  situation  until  December  2013 
(%)25  

By  the  end  of  2015,  Germany  designated  71,9%  of  the 
sites  of  community 
interests  as  Special  Areas  of 
Conservation (SACs) according to Art. 4(4) of the Habitats 
Directive and established conservation objectives as well 
as management measures in order to achieve or maintain 
a  good  conservation  status  according  to  Art. 6(1)  in 
55,1%  of  the SACs.  These  failures are now subject  to  an 
infringement procedure. 

Nature  protection 
the 
in  Germany 
competence  of  16  'Länder'  and  the  Exclusive  Economic 
Zone (EEZ) is in the competence of the Federal State. 

falls  within 

According to the latest report on the conservation status 
of  habitats  and  species  covered  by  the  Habitats 
Directive26,  28%  of 
the  habitats'  biogeographic 
assessments  were favourable  in  2013  (EU  27:  16  %).  On 
the other hand, 39 % are considered to be unfavourable–

date. This is expressed as a percentage of species and habitats for 
which further areas need to be designated in order to complete the 
network in that country. A scientific reserve is given when further 
research is needed to identify the most appropriate sites to be added 
for a species or habitat. The current data, which were assessed in 
2014-2015, reflect the situation up until December 2013. 

24 The percentages in Figure 5 refer to percentages of the total number 
of assessments (one assessment covering 1 species or 1 habitat in a 
given biographical region with the Member State); if a habitat type or 
a species occurs in more than 1 Biogeographic region within a given 
Member State, there will be as many individual assessments as there 
are Biogeographic regions with an occurrence of that species or 
habitat in this Member State. 

25 European Commission, internal assessment. 
26 The core of the ‘Article 17’ report is the assessment of conservation 
status of the habitats and species targeted by the Habitats Directive. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
 
                                                                                                 
Germany  10 

breeding species showed short-term increasing or stable 
population  trends  (for  wintering  species  this  figure  was 
30%) as shown in Figure 7. 

Figure  7:  Short-term  population  trend  of  breeding  and 
wintering bird species in Germany in 2012 (%)32 

inadequate27  (EU27:  47%)  and  31  %  are  unfavourable  – 
bad  (EU27:  30%).  As  for  the  species,  25  %  of  the 
assessments  were  favourable  in  2013  (EU27:  23%)  31  % 
at  unfavourable-inadequate 
(EU27:  42%)  and  29% 
unfavourable-bad status (EU27: 18%). This is depicted in 
Figure  628.  Furthermore,  27%  and  29.7  %  of  the 
unfavourable  assessments  respectively  for  species  and 
habitats were showing a positive trend in 2013.  

Main  pressures  come  from  agriculture  in  relation  to 
changes of  agricultural practices and  intensification.  The 
agricultural  sector  benefits  from  various  exemptions 
from many nature protection regulations29.  

Figure 6: Conservation status of habitats and species in 
Germany in 2007/2013 (%)30 

Suggested action 

  Complete the Natura 2000 designation process and put 
in place clearly defined conservation objectives and the 
necessary  conservation  measures  for  the  sites  and 
provide  adequate  resources  for  their  implementation 
in  order  to  maintain/restore  species  and  habitats  of 
community interest to a favourable conservation status 
across their natural range.  
  Develop  and  promote 

streamlined 
implementation  approaches,  in  particular  as  regards 
site  and  species  permitting  procedures,  ensuring  the 
necessary  knowledge  and  data  availability  and 
strengthen communication with stakeholders. 

smart  and 

  Ensure  that  pressures  coming  from  agriculture  are 
adequately addressed and that this sector fully applies 
the nature protection law.  

According  to  the  official  report  submitted  by  Germany 
under  Article  12  of  the  Birds  Directive31,  54%  of  the 

Estimating Natural Capital  

27 Conservation status is assessed using a standard methodology as 

being either ‘favourable’, ‘unfavourable-inadequate’ and 
‘unfavourable-bad’, based on four parameters as defined in Article 1 
of the Habitats Directive. 

28 Please note that a direct comparison between 2007 and 2013 data is 
complicated by the fact that Bulgaria and Romania were not covered 
by the 2007 reporting cycle, that the ‘unknown’ assessments have 
strongly diminished particularly for species, and that some reported 
changes are not genuine as they result from improved data / 
monitoring methods. 

29 For example activities under "good agricultural land use" and "good 
farming practice" are exempted from the protection regime of the 
national nature protection law in the 'Länder'. 

30 These figures show the percentage of biogeographical assessments in 
each category of conservation status for habitats and species (one 
assessment covering 1 species or 1 habitat in a given biographical 
region with the Member State), respectively.  The information is 
based on Article 17 of the Habitats Directive reporting - national 
summary of Germany 

31 Article 12 of the Birds Directive requires Member States to report 
about the progress made with the implementation of the Birds 

The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 calls on the Member 
States  to  map  and  asses  the  state  of  ecosystems  and 
their  services  in  their  national  territory  by  2014,  assess 
the  economic  value  of  such  services,  and  promote  the 
integration of these values into accounting and reporting 
systems at EU and national level by 2020. 

Initial valuations have been carried out and tested, e.g. in 
the framework of “Natural Capital Germany – TEEB DE”33, 
the  German  follow-up  project  to  the  international  TEEB 
study  (TEEB  –  The  Economics  of  Ecosystems  and 

Directive. 

32 Article 12 of the Birds Directive reporting - national summary of 

Germany 

33 Naturkapital Deutschland – TEEB DE (2016): Ökosystemleistungen in 
der Stadt - Gesundheit schützen und Lebensqualität erhöhen. Hrsg. 
von Ingo Kowarik, Robert Bartz und Miriam Brenck. Technische 
Universität Berlin, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung – UFZ. 
Berlin, Leipzig. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
 
                                                                                                 
Biodiversity), which analyses, with the aid of case studies, 
the  interactions  between  ecosystem  services34,  value 
added by economic activity, and human wellbeing. 

perpetuity.  

Germany  11 

A scoping study for a National Assessment of Ecosystems 
in  Germany  (NEA-DE)  has  been 
and  their  Services 
undertaken  by  an  interdisciplinary  team.  The  Ecosystem 
Services Partnership Germany (ESP-DE) is an initiative of 
the  scientific  community  to  develop  new  strategic 
partnerships  between  researchers  and  practitioners  to 
apply the concept of ecosystem services in favour of the 
protection and sustainable use of natural resources.  

initiated  several 
The  Federal  Environment  Ministry 
research  studies  and  projects  in  this  field  (development 
of nation-wide indicators, physical mapping of Ecosystem 
Services,  valuation  of  Cultural  Ecosystem  Services, 
integration  of  Ecosystem  Services 
into  the  national 
environmental accounting). 

Suggested action 

  Engage  all  administrative  levels  and  continue  support 
for  the  mapping  and  assessment  of  ecosystems  and 
their services, and valuation work and develop natural 
capital accounting systems. 

Green Infrastructure  
The  EU  strategy  on  green  infrastructure35  promotes  the 
incorporation  of  green  infrastructure  into  related  plans 
and  programmes  to  help  overcome  fragmentation  of 
habitats  and  preserve  or  restore  ecological  connectivity, 
enhance  ecosystem  resilience  and  thereby  ensure  the 
continued provision of ecosystem services. 

Green  Infrastructure  provides  ecological,  economic  and 
social  benefits  through  natural  solutions.  It  helps  to 
understand the value of the benefits that nature provides 
to human society and to mobilise investments to sustain 
and enhance them. 

in  2017.  All  relevant 

A national Green Infrastructure concept will be published 
in  Germany 
federal  nature 
conservation  strategies,  objectives  and  concepts  will  be 
brought  together  in  a  single  document  to  improve  the 
integration  of  nature  conservation  policy  in  all  federal 
activities,  e.g., 
transport 
flood  protection, 
infrastructure and energy networks. 

federal 

Germany’s  National  Natural  Heritage  scheme  covers 
outstanding  natural  and  cultural  landscapes  of  national 
interest.  About  155,000  ha  should  be 
conservation 
Federal 
to 
transferred 
conservation 
Environmental 
in 
organisations  or 

nature 
foundations  to  be  conserved 

Länder, 
Foundation, 

the  German 

34 Ecosystem services are benefits provided by nature such as food, 
clean water and pollination on which human society depends. 

35 European Union, Green Infrastructure — Enhancing Europe’s Natural 

Capital, COM/2013/0249 

In  2012,  the  German  government  adopted  the  Federal 
(Bundesprogramm 
Programme 
Defragmentation 
Wiedervernetzung)  aimed  at  maintaining  and  restoring 
Green  Infrastructure  across  the  national  German  road 
network.  The  programme  aims  to  reconnect  habitat 
corridors  for  flora  and  fauna  focussing  primarily  on  the 
existing  road  network,  but  also  on  new  planned  federal 
roads,  nature  conservation  and  landscape  management 
as  well  as  integrated  spatial  planning  to  facilitate  the 
reconnection of a national biotope network. 

In 2009, Germany presented a Status Report on German 
Floodplains,  which  documented  their  dramatic  decline. 
The  German  Government  is  preparing  a  Federal  Blue 
Ecological  Network  Programme 
(Bundesprogramm 
Blaues  Band  Deutschland),  which  will  deal  with  the 
restoration  of  rivers  and  floodplains  in  Germany.  The 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
Germany  12 

Blue  Ecological  Network  was  inspired  by  the  European 
Green  Belt  initiative.  The  German  stretch  of  the  Green 
Belt,  previously  the  border  between  East  and  West 
Germany, is part of the national natural heritage and has 
since  become  a  valuable  biotope  network  running 
through the country.  

An important initiative for Green Infrastructure in urban 
areas started in June 2015 with the “Green in Cities - for 
a liveable future” conference at which a “green paper36” 
was  presented  outlining  the  importance  and  multiple 
functions of urban green infrastructure as well as current 
challenges  and  perspectives  related  to  it.  A  planned 
“white  paper”  will  recommend  actions  to  be  taken  to 
improve Green Infrastructure in the German urban areas. 

For  the  future,  the  main  challenges  relate  to  the 
systematic  integration  of  Green  Infrastructure  in  the 
planning,  financing  and  implementation  of  development 
schemes in both urban and rural areas.  

events; there is a long-distance cycle path and a marina. 
The  Emscher  development  has  given  rise  to  over  one 
thousand  jobs  and  has  provided  the  focal  point  for  the 
economic and social renewal of the entire region37. 

Soil protection  

further  soil  degradation  and 

The  EU  Soil  Thematic  Strategy  highlights  the  need  to 
ensure  a  sustainable  use  of  soils.  This  requires  the 
prevention  of 
the 
preservation of its functions, as well as the restoration of 
degraded  soils.  The  2011  Road  Map  for  Resource-
Efficient  Europe,  part  of  Europe  2020  Strategy  provides 
that  by  2020,  EU  policies  take  into  account  their  direct 
and  indirect  impact  on  land  use  in  the  EU  and  globally, 
and  the  rate  of  land  take  is  on  track  with  an  aim  to 
achieve no net land take by 2050. 

SDG  15  requires  countries  to  combat  desertification, 
restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by 
desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve 
a land-degradation-neutral world by 2030. 

Soil is an important resource for life and the economy. It 
provides  key  ecosystem  services  including  the  provision 
of food, fibre and biomass for renewable energy, carbon 
sequestration,  water  purification  and  flood  regulation, 
the provision of raw and building material. Soil is a finite 
and  extremely 
increasingly 
degrading  in  the  EU.  Land  taken  by  urban  development 
and infrastructure is highly unlikely to be reverted to its 
natural  state;  it  consumes  mostly  agricultural  land  and 
increases  fragmentation  of  habitats.  Soil  protection  is 
indirectly  addressed  in  existing EU policies  in  areas  such 
as  agriculture,  water,  waste,  chemicals,  and  prevention 
of industrial pollution. 

resource  and 

fragile 

Artificial  land  cover  is  used  for  settlements,  production 
systems and infrastructure. It may itself be split between 
built-up areas (buildings) and non-built-up areas (such as 
linear transport networks and associated areas). 

The  annual  land  take  rate  (growth  of  artificial  areas)  as 
provided  by  CORINE  Land  Cover  was  0.21%  in  Germany 
over the period 2006-12, below the EU average (0.41%), 
It  represented  7224  hectares  per  year  and  was  mainly 
driven by the sprawl of industrial and commercial sites38. 
The  percentage  of  built  up  land  in  2009  was  5.06%,  as 
well above the EU average percentage (3.23%)39. 

Figure 8 shows the different land cover types in Germany 
in 2012. 

37 Emschergenossenschaft, 2016. Generationenprojekt Emscher-

Umbau. Information in English provided by the Danish Architecture 
Centre.  

38 European Environment Agency Draft results of CORINE Land Cover 

(CLC) inventory 2012; mean annual land take 2006-12 as a % of 2006 
artificial land. 

39 European Environment Agency, 2016. Imperviousvalenvness and 

imperviousness change 

and 

faced 

to  address  some  of 
stagnating 

Germany is at the forefront of applying innovative green 
the 
infrastructure  solutions 
challenges 
shrinking 
by 
metropolitan  regions.  The  approach  recognizes  the 
potential of city green to improve the urban environment 
and quality of life, and to counteract decay as residential 
and 
industrial  areas  decline.  The  Emscher  valley 
restoration project in the Ruhr area of Germany provides 
an inspiring example of how ecological restoration can be 
a  driver  for  renewal  in  post-industrial  landscapes.  Over 
more  than  25  years  the  towns  and  cities  in  the  region, 
together  with  private  business,  have  invested  billions  of 
EUR  in  restoring  a  landscape  that  was  previously  the 
centre of the coal and steel industries. The focal point for 
the  restoration  work  was  the  river  Emscher  that  for 
decades had been covered over and used essentially as a 
waste  canal.  The  river  is  now  open  to  the  sky  and 
pollution  has  been  dramatically  reduced.  Some  of  the 
buildings  of  the  steel  and  coal  industries  have  been 
transformed  into  cultural  centres  hosting  international 

36 Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und 

Reaktorsicherheit (BMUB), 2015. Grün in der Stadt −Für eine 
lebenswerte Zukunft 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
                                                            
Figure 8: Land Cover types in Germany 201240 

In  2002  the  German  National  Sustainable  Development 
Strategy set the goal to cut down average daily land take 
figure from 130 hectares of land between 1997 and 2000 
to 30 hectares by the year 2020. In 2008 to 2012 the daily 
soil loss went down to 74 hectares; in 2012 it amounted 
to 69 hectares. 

The soil erosion rate in 2010 was with 1.25 tonnes per ha 
and per year below EU28 average (2.46 tonnes)41. 

There  are  still  not  EU-wide  datasets  enabling  the 
provision of benchmark indicators for soil organic matter 
decline, contaminated sites, pressures on soil biology and 
diffuse pollution. 

An  updated  inventory  and  assessment  of  soil  protection 
policy  instruments  in  Germany  and  other  EU  Member 
States is being performed by the EU Expert Group on Soil 
Protection. 

Marine protection 

The EU Coastal and Marine Policy and legislation require 
that by 2020 the impact of pressures on marine waters is 
reduced  to  achieve  or  maintain  good  environmental 
status and coastal zones are managed sustainably. 

SDG  14  requires  countries  to  conserve  and  sustainably 
for 
use  the  oceans,  seas  and  marine  resources 

40 European Environment Agency, Land cover 2006 and changes country 

analysis [publication forthcoming] 

Germany  13 

sustainable development. 
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)42 aims 
to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES)43 of the EU's 
marine  waters  by  2020  by  providing  an  ecosystem 
approach  to  the  management  of  human  activities  with 
impact  on  the  marine  environment.  The  Directive 
requires  Member  States  to  develop  and  implement  a 
marine  strategy  for  their  marine  waters,  and  cooperate 
with  Member  States  sharing  the  same  marine  region  or 
sub-region. 

As part of their marine strategies, Member States had to 
make  an  initial  assessment  of  their  marine  waters, 
determine  GES  and  establish  environmental  targets  by 
July  2012.  They  also  had  to  establish  monitoring 
programmes for the on-going assessment of their marine 
waters  by  July  2014.  The  next  element  of  their  marine 
strategy  was  to  establish  a  Programme  of  Measures 
(2016).  The  Commission  assesses  whether 
these 
elements  constitute  an  appropriate  framework  to  meet 
the requirements of the MSFD. 

Despite  an  ambitious  objective  on  non-indigenous 
species  (aiming  at  zero 
introduction  of  new  non-
indigenous  species)  good  environmental  status  and 
environmental  targets  are  sufficiently  specific  and 
quantitatively  defined  not  for  all  descriptors44.  It  is 
therefore  too  early  to  say  whether  German  marine 
waters  are in  a  good  state as  there  were  weaknesses  in 
identifying what a "good environmental status" is in the 
first place. 

Germany also established a monitoring programme of its 
marine  waters  in  2014.  However,  it  seems  that  its 
monitoring  programme  needs  further  refinement  and 
development to constitute an appropriate framework to 
monitor  progress  towards  Good  Environmental  Status. 
Many  descriptors  are  expected  to  be  adequately 
addressed  by  the  national  monitoring  programmes  only 
by 201845. 

German  marine  protected  areas  covered  25,670  square 
kilometres  of  its  marine  waters,  with  7969.1  square 
in  the  Baltic  Sea  and  17,701.2  square 
kilometres 
kilometres in the North Sea46. 

42 European Union, Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC 
43 The MSFD Directive defines Good Environmental Status (GES) in 

Article 3 as: “The environmental status of marine waters where these 
provide ecologically diverse and dynamic oceans and seas which are 
clean, healthy and productive” 

44 Report from the Commission "The first phase of implementation of 
the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) - The 
European Commission's assessment and guidance" COM(2014)097 
and COM(2014)097 final 

45 . Commission Staff Working Document Accompanying the 
Commission Report assessing Member States' monitoring 
programmes under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 
(COM(2017)3 and SWD(2017)1 final) 

46 2012 Data provided by the European Environmental Agency to the 

41 Eurostat, Soil water erosion rate, Figure 2, accessed November 2016 

European Commission– Not published 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
                                                            
Suggested action 

  Continue  work  to  improve  the  definitions  of  GES  in 
particular 
including 
for  biodiversity  descriptors, 
through regional cooperation by using the work of the 
relevant Regional Sea Conventions. 

Germany  14 

  Address knowledge gaps. 
  Further 

develop 

(and 
approaches 
quantifying) impacts from the main pressures in order 
to  lead  to  improved  and  more  conclusive  assessment 
results for 2018 reporting. 

assessing 

  Continue to integrate existing monitoring programmes 
required  under  other  EU  legislation  and  to  implement 
joint  monitoring  programmes  developed  at  (sub) 
regional  level,  for  instance  by  the  Convention  for  the 
Protection  of  the  Marine  Environment  of  the  North-
East  Atlantic 
the 
Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea 
Area (HELCOM). 
and 

and 
consistency  of  monitoring  methods  within  its  marine 
(sub-) regions. 

(OSPAR)  and  Convention  on 

comparability 

to  enhance 

  Continue 

  Enhance  the  cohesion  between  approaches  in  the 

Member State's two marine regions. 

  Ensure  that  all  of  the  monitoring  programme 

is 
implemented  without  delay,  and  is  appropriate  to 
monitor progress towards its GES. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Germany  15 

3. Ensuring citizens' health and quality of life 

Air quality  

The  EU  Clean  Air  Policy  and  legislation  require  that  air 
quality  in  the  Union  is  significantly  improved,  moving 
closer  to  the  WHO  recommended  levels.  Air  pollution 
and its impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity should be 
further reduced with the long-term aim of not exceeding 
critical  loads  and  levels.  This  requires  strengthening 
efforts  to  reach  full  compliance  with  Union  air  quality 
legislation  and  defining  strategic  targets  and  actions 
beyond 2020. 

The  EU  has  developed  a  comprehensive  suite  of  air 
legislation47,  which  establishes  health-based 
quality 
standards  and  objectives  for  a  number  of  air  pollutants. 

recorded  for  nitrogen  oxides  (-58%),  volatile  organic 
compounds  (-69%)  and  ammonia  (-7%),  total  emissions 
for these pollutants are above current ceilings. It should 
be  noted  that  the  exceedance  of  the  volatile  organic 
compounds  ceiling  is  largely  the  result  from  the  recent 
addition  of  volatile  organic  compounds  emissions  from 
agriculture  to  the  emission 
inventories  while  the 
exceedance  of  the  ammonia  emission  ceiling  partly 
results  from  the  reporting  of  new  sources  of  emissions 
which  were  not  estimated  or  considered  at  the  time 
when the emission ceilings were set. The exceedance of 
the  nitrogen  oxides  emission  ceiling  is  partly  due  to  the 
actual  driving  emissions  of  these  pollutants  from  diesel 
vehicles. 

Figure 9: Attainment situation for PM10, NO2 and O3 in 2014 

that  up-to-date 

As  part  of  this,  Member  States  are  also  required  to 
information  on  ambient 
ensure 
concentrations  of  different  air  pollutants  is  routinely 
made  available  to  the  public.  In  addition,  the  National 
Emission  Ceilings  Directive  provides 
for  emission 
reductions  at  national  level  that  should  be  achieved  for 
main pollutants.  

The  emission  of  several  air  pollutants  has  decreased 
significantly in Germany48. Reductions between 1990 and 
2014  for  sulphur  oxides  (-93%)  ensure  air  emissions  for 
this  pollutant  to  be  within  currently  applicable  national 
emission  ceilings49.  Despite  emissions  reductions  were 

47 European Commission, 2016. Air Quality Standards 
48 See EIONET Central Data Repository and Air pollutant emissions data 

viewer (NEC Directive) 

Despite  these  reductions 
in  the  emissions  of  air 
pollutants, air quality in Germany continues to give cause 
for  concern.  For 
the  European 
Environment  Agency  estimated  that  about  73 400 
premature  deaths  were  attributable  to  fine  particulate 
matter50 concentrations,  2 500 to ozone51 concentration 

the  year  2013, 

2001/81/EC); revised ceilings for 2020 and 2030 have been set by 
Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of 
certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 2003/35/EC and 
repealing Directive 2001/81/EC. 

50 Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of aerosol particles (solid and 
liquid) covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. 
PM10 (PM2.5) refers to particles with a diameter of 10 (2.5) 
micrometres or less. PM is emitted from many anthropogenic 
sources, including combustion, and is formed from gaseous 
pollutants in the air (secondary PM). 

51 Low ground-level ozone is produced by photochemical action on air 

49 The current national emission ceilings apply since 2010 (Directive 

pollutants and is also a greenhouse gas. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
                                                                                                 
 
and  over  10  610  to  nitrogen  dioxide52  concentrations53. 
This is due also to exceedances above the EU air quality 
standards such as shown in Figure 954. 

For 2014, exceedances above the EU air quality standards 
have been registered related to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in 
34  air  quality  zones.  Exceedances  have  also  been 
registered  related  particulate  matter  (PM10)  in  eight  air 
quality  zones.  Furthermore,  the  target  values  regarding 
ozone  concentrations  are  not  being  met  in  several  air 
quality zones55. 

The  persistent  breaches  of  air  quality  requirements  (for 
PM10  and  NO2),  which  have  severe  negative  effects  on 
health  and  environment,  are  being  followed  up  by  the 
European  Commission  through  infringement  procedures 
covering  all  the  Member  States  concerned,  including 
Germany. The aim is that adequate measures are put in 
place to bring all zones into compliance. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  health-related  external 
costs  from  air  pollution  in  Germany  are  above  EUR  58 
billion/year  (income  adjusted,  2010),  which  include  not 
only the intrinsic value of living a full health life but also 
direct costs to the economy. These direct economic costs 
relate  to  27  million  workdays  lost  each  year  due  to 
sickness related to air pollution, with associated costs for 
employers  of  EUR  3  500  million/year  (income  adjusted, 
2010), 
for  healthcare  of  above  EUR  240  –  466 
million/year (income adjusted, 2010), and for agriculture 
(crop losses) of EUR 715 million/year (2010)56. 

Suggested action 

  Maintain  downward  emissions  trends  of  air  pollutants 
in  order  to  achieve  full  compliance  with  currently 

52 NOx is emitted during fuel combustion e.g. from industrial facilities 
and the road transport sector. NOx is a group of gases comprising 
nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). 

53 European Environment Agency, 2016. Air Quality in Europe – 2016 
Report. (Table 10.2, please see details in this report as regards the 
underpinning    methodology) 

54 Based on European Environment Agency, 2016. Air Quality in Europe 

– 2016 Report (Figures 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1) 

55 See The EEA/Eionet Air Quality Portal and the related Central Data 

Repository 

56 These figures are based on the Impact Assessment for the European 

Commission Integrated Clean Air Package (2013) 

Germany  16 

applicable  national  emission  ceilings  and  air  quality 
limit values - and reduce adverse air pollution impacts 
on health, environment and economy. 

  Reduce  ammonia  (NH3)  emissions  to  comply  with 
currently  applicable  national  emission  ceilings57,  for 
example  by  introducing  or  expanding  the  use  of  low-
emission agricultural techniques. 

  Reduce  NMVOCs  emissions  to  comply  with  currently 
applicable  national  emission  ceilings58  (and  to  reduce 
ozone concentrations). 

  Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to comply with 
currently applicable national emission ceilings59 and/or 
(and  ozone 
to 
(NO2) 
concentrations), 
inter  alia,  by  reducing  transport 
related emissions - in particular in urban areas. 

reduce  nitrogen  dioxide 

 Reduce PM10 emission and concentration, inter alia, by 
reducing  emissions  related  to  energy  and  heat 
generation  using  solid  fuels,  to  transport  and  to 
agriculture. 

Noise 

The  Environmental  Noise  Directive  provides  for  a 
common  approach  for  the  avoidance,  prevention  and 
reduction  of  harmful  effects  due  to  exposure  to 
environmental noise. 

Excessive  noise  is  one  of  the  main  causes  of  health 
issues60.  To alleviate  this,  the  EU  acquis  sets  out  several 
including  assessing  the  exposure  to 
requirements, 
environmental  noise  through  noise  mapping,  ensuring 
that information on environmental noise and its effects is 
made  available  to  the  public,  and  adopting  action  plans 
with  a  view  to  preventing  and  reducing  environmental 
noise  where  necessary  and  to  preserving  the  acoustic 
environment quality where it is good. 

Germany's  implementation  of  the  Environmental  Noise 
Directive61 is significantly delayed. The noise mapping for 
the  most  recent  reporting  round,  for  the  reference  year 
2011, is mostly complete. However, action plans for noise 
management 
in  the  current  period  have  not  been 
adopted for many of the agglomerations, airports, major 
roads  and  major  railways  within  the  scope  of  the 
Directive.  The  Commission  contacted  the  German 

57 Under the provisions of the revised National Emission Ceilings 

Directive Member States now may apply for emission inventory 
adjustments. Pending evaluation of any adjustment application, 
Member States should keep emissions under close control with a 
view to further reductions. 

58 Ibid. 
59 Ibid. 
60 WHO/JRC, 2011, Burden of disease from environmental noise, 

Fritschi, L., Brown, A.L., Kim, R., Schwela, D., Kephalopoulos, S. (eds), 
World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, 
Denmark 

61 The Noise Directive requires Member States to prepare and publish, 
every 5 years, noise maps and noise management action plans for 
agglomerations with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and for major 
roads, railways and airports. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
                                                            
Germany  17 

authorities  with  regard  to  the  missing  action  plans,  and 
continues to follow up on the situation. 

Suggested action 

  Complete the action plans for noise management. 

Water quality and management 

(including  surface  and  ground  waters) 

The  EU  water  policy  and  legislation  require  that  the 
impact  of  pressures  on  transitional,  coastal  and  fresh 
waters 
is 
significantly  reduced  to  achieve,  maintain  or  enhance 
good  status  of  water  bodies,  as  defined  by  the  Water 
Framework Directive; that citizens throughout the Union 
benefit from high standards for safe drinking and bathing 
water;  and  that  the  nutrient  cycle  (nitrogen  and 
phosphorus)  is  managed  in  a  more  sustainable  and 
resource-efficient way. 

SDG  6  encourages  countries  to  ensure  availability  and 
sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. 

The  main  overall  objective  of  EU  water  policy  and 
legislation  is  to  ensure  access  to  good  quality  water  in 
sufficient  quantity  for  all  Europeans.  The  EU  water 
acquis62  seeks  to  ensure  good  status  of  all  water  bodies 
across Europe by addressing pollution sources (from e.g. 
agriculture, urban areas and industrial activities), physical 
and  hydrological modifications  to  water  bodies)  and  the 
management of risks of flooding.  

River  Basin  Management  Plans 
(RBMPs)  are  a 
requirement  of  the  Water  Framework  Directive  and  a 
means  of  achieving  the  protection,  improvement  and 
sustainable use of the water environment across Europe. 
This includes surface freshwaters such as lakes and rivers, 
groundwater,  estuaries  and  coastal  waters  up  to  one 
nautical mile. 

Germany  has  provided  information  to  the  Commission 
from  its  second  generation  of  RBMPs.  However,  as  the 
Commission  has  not  yet  been  able  to  validate  this 
information  for  all  Member  States,  it  is  not  reported 
here. 

In its first generation of RBMPs under the WFD Germany 
reported  the  status  of  9072  rivers,  712 
lakes,  5 
transitional,  74  coastal  and  989  groundwater  bodies. 
Only 16% of natural surface water bodies achieve a good 
or high ecological status63 and 5% of heavily modified or 

62 This includes the Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7/EC); the Urban 

Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) concerning 
discharges of municipal and some industrial waste waters; the 
Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) concerning potable water 
quality; the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) concerning 
water resources management; the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) 
and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) 

63 Good ecological status is defined in the Water Framework Directive 

artificial water bodies64 achieve a good or high ecological 
potential.  86%  of  surface  water  bodies,  90%  of  heavily 
modified  and  artificial  water  bodies  and  63%  of 
groundwater bodies achieve good chemical status65. 96% 
of groundwater bodies are in good quantitative status. 

The  main  pressure  on  German  waters  is  flow  regulation 
and  hydromorphological  alteration  that  affect  79%  of 
surface water bodies closely followed by diffuse sources 
of pollution that affect 75% of water. Point sources affect 
28%  of  water  bodies.  There  are  significant  regional 
differences  pressures,  e.g.  point  sources  affect  79%  of 
water bodies in Meuse river basin district or abstraction 
is  also  an  important  pressure  in  the  Danube  river  basin 
district. 

In  the  German  RBMPs  a  number  of  exemptions  have 
been applied. Apportionment of pressures per economic 
sectors  is  not  completely  transparent  and  measures  for 
diffuse  pollution66  are  insufficient.  The  Programmes  of 
Measures  are  expected  to  result  in  9%  improvement  of 
the global status and 11% improvement of the ecological 
status  of  natural  surface  water  bodies.  The  chemical 
status of natural surface water bodies should improve by 
3%  and  groundwater67  by  5%  while  the  quantitative 
status of ground water is not expected to change. 

As  regards  drinking  water,  Germany  reaches  very  high 
compliance 
for  microbiological, 
chemical  and  indicator  parameters  laid  down  in  the 
Drinking Water Directive68. 

rates  of  99-100% 

As  shown  in  Figure  10  in  2015,  in  Germany  out  of  2292 
bathing waters, 90.3 % were of excellent quality, 6.3 % of 
good quality, 1.2 % of sufficient quality. 5 bathing waters 
were  of  poor  quality  or  non-compliant  while  it  was  not 
possible to assess the remaining 44 bathing waters69. It is 
shown that Germany's bathing waters have a stable good 
quality over the years. 

Water  pollution  by  nitrates  in  Germany  is  a  serious 
concern. There is significant evidence (e.g. last report on 
the implementation of the Nitrates Directive70 and other 

64Many European river basins and waters have been altered by human 
activities, such as land drainage, flood protection, and, building of 
dams to create reservoirs. 

65 Good chemical status is defined in the Water Framework Directive 

referring to the quality standards established for chemical 
substances at European level. 

66 Diffuse pollution comes from widespread activities with no one 

discrete source.  

67 For groundwater, a precautionary approach has been taken that 

comprises a prohibition on direct discharges to groundwater, and a 
requirement to monitor groundwater bodies. 

68 Commission's Synthesis Report on the Quality of Drinking Water in 
the Union examining Member States' reports for the 2011-2013 
period, foreseen under Article 13(5) of Directive 98/83/EC; 
COM(2016)666 

69 European Environment Agency, 2016. European bathing water quality 

in 2015, p. 26 

referring to the quality of the biological community, the hydrological 
characteristics and the chemical characteristics. 

70 Report on the implementation of Council Directive 91/676/EEC 
concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
                                                            
reports71)  of  acute  problems 

in 
recent  German 
groundwater  and  eutrophication  problems,  including  in 
the Baltic and North Sea. 
Figure 10: Bathing water quality 2012 – 201572 

Implementation of the nitrates directive has been mostly 
managed  at  federal  level,  with  limited  results  especially 
for  the  areas  with  high  surplus  and  livestock  density, 
which  have  continued  to  show  deteriorating  trends70. 
Control  measures  have  been  of  low  effectiveness,  also 
due  to  difficulty  for  the  authorities  in  accessing  key 
agricultural data because of legal barriers. 

Germany  demonstrates  very  high  compliance  rates  with 
the  Urban  Water  Treatment  Directive,  with  100%  of  its 
waste water load collected and 99.9% of that load being 
subject  to  secondary  treatment.  In  2012,  total  nitrogen 
was reduced by 82% and total phosphorus by 90%, which 
means  that  Germany  also  fully  complies  with  the 
requirements  of  Article  5(4)  of  the  Directive  on  more 
stringent treatment73. 

Flood  risk  areas  have  already  been 
identified  and 
mapped  in  Germany74.  Germany  is  hit  regularly  by 
flooding  incidents  with  serious  economic  damage  costs. 
Records  of  flooding  from  rivers  are  the  most  common 
with  some  162  significant  flood  events  being  recorded 
between  2000  and  2011.  For  the  11  major  floods 

nitrates from agricultural sources based on Member State reports for 
the period 2008–2011. 

71 E.g. Report from the German Advisory Council for the Environment 
(SRU), 2015. Stickstoff: Lösungsstrategien für ein drängendes 
Umweltproblem and Report from the Federal Environment Agency, 
2015. Umweltbelastende Stoffeinträge aus der Landwirtschaft.  

72 European Environment Agency, State of bathing water, 2016 
73 Eighth Report on the Implementation Status and the Programmes for 

Implementation (as required by Article 17) of Council Directive 
91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment (COM 
(2016)105 final) and Commission Staff Working Document 
accompanying the report (SWD(2016)45 final). 

74 Commission Staff Working Document, 2015. Report on the progress 

in implementation of the Floods Directive, page 35 

Germany  18 

recorded between  2002  and 2013,  the  total direct  costs 
were  EUR 34 billion.  The  average  cost  per  flood  was 
EUR 3.1 billion75.Some  Bundesländer  have 
included 
investments  for  the  management  and  prevention  of 
floods  by  using  green  infrastructure  measures  in  the 
regional  programmes  supported  by  the  EU  structural 
funds. 

Suggested action 

  Refine  the  analysis  of  pressures  of  the  water 
environment  to  understand  better  which  pressures 
prevent  the  achievement  of  good  status  and  in  which 
sectors measures are needed. 

  Plan  more  effective  Programmes  of  Measures  and 
ensure  sufficient  funding  for  the  measures.  More 
effective  measures  to  tackle  diffuse  pollution  from 
agriculture are necessary. 

  Enhance  implementation  of  the  nitrates  directive  in  a 
way  which  addresses  the  current  serious  water 
pollution, especially in intensive agricultural areas. 

Enhancing the sustainability of cities 

The  EU  Policy  on  the  urban  environment  encourages 
implement  policies  for  sustainable  urban 
cities  to 
planning and design, including innovative approaches for 
urban  public 
sustainable 
buildings,  energy  efficiency  and  urban  biodiversity 
conservation.  

transport  and  mobility, 

SDG11  aims  at  making  cities  and  human  settlements 
inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. 

Europe is a Union of cities and towns; around 75% of the 
EU  population  are  living  in  urban  areas.76  The  urban 
environment  poses  particular  challenges 
the 
environment  and  human  health,  whilst  also  providing 
opportunities and efficiency gains in the use of resources.  

for 

The  Member  States,  European  institutions,  cities  and 
stakeholders have prepared a new Urban Agenda for the 
EU  (incorporating  the  Smart  Cities  initiative)  to  tackle 
these  issues  in  a  comprehensive  way,  including  their 
connections with social and economic challenges. At the 
heart  of  this  Urban  Agenda  will  be  the  development  of 
twelve  partnerships  on  the  identified  urban  challenges, 
including air quality and housing77.  

The  European  Commission  will 
benchmark system in 201778. 

launch  a  new  EU 

75 RPA, 2014. Study on Economic and Social Benefits of Environmental 

Protection and Resource Efficiency Related to the European 
Semester, study for the European Commission. 
76 European Environment Agency, Urban environment 
77 http://urbanagendaforthe.eu/ 
78 The Commission is developing an Urban Benchmarking and 

Monitoring ('UBaM') tool to be launched in 2017. Best practices 
emerge and these will be better disseminated via the app featuring 
the UBaM tool, and increasingly via e.g. EUROCITIES, ICLEI, CEMR, 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                                                                 
                                                            
Germany  19 

The  EU  Treaties  require  that  the  Union  policy  on  the 
environment  promotes  measures  at  the  international 
level  to  deal  with  regional  or  worldwide  environmental 
problems. 

Most  environmental  problems  have  a  transboundary 
nature  and  often  a  global  scope  and  they  can  only  be 
addressed effectively through international co-operation. 
International  environmental  agreements  concluded  by 
the Union are binding upon the institutions of the Union 
and  on  its Member  States. This  requires  the  EU and the 
Member  States  to  sign,  ratify  and  effectively  implement 
all  relevant  multilateral  environmental  agreements 
(MEAs) in a timely manner. This will also be an important 
contribution  towards  the  achievement  of  the  SDGs, 
which Member States committed to in 2015 and include 
many  commitments  contained  already  in  legally  binding 
agreements. 

The  fact  that  some  Member  States  did  not  sign  and/or 
ratify  a  number  of  MEAs  compromises  environmental 
implementation,  including  within  the  Union,  as  well  as 
in  related  negotiations  and 
the  Union’s  credibility 
international  meetings  where 
the 
participation of third countries to such agreements is an 
established  EU  policy  objective.  In  agreements  where 
voting takes place it has a direct impact on the number of 
votes to be cast by the EU. 

supporting 

Germany is performing as one of the best in the EU with 
international 
regard  to  signing  and  ratifying  such 
agreements. 

The  EU  stimulates  green  cities  through  awards  and 
funding,  such  as  the  EU  Green  Capital  Award  aimed  at 
cities  with  more  than  100,000  inhabitants  and  the  EU 
Green  Leaf  initiative  aimed  at  cities  and  towns,  with 
between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. 

Several  Bundesländer 
foresee  environment  related 
investments  under  sustainable  urban  development 
measures  (green  infrastructures  in  the  building  sector, 
sustainable  transport,  rehabilitation  of  brownfields) 
within their regional programmes. 

The  “Sensible  water  use  in  Frankfurt  am  Main”  project 
was developed in 1990. The aim was to remove the link 
between  water  consumption  and  population  and 
economic  growth.  The  water-saving  campaign  that 
became known as the “Frankfurt Way” relied on citizens 
understanding  the  need  to  use  water  sensibly.  The 
measures  were  designed  to  encourage  a  sensible 
approach to water and to publicise the opportunities for 
upgrading water-saving devices in the home. The aim of 
the campaign – to reduce water consumption by 20% by 
2000  –  was  achieved  in  via  initiatives  such  as:    100%  of 
the water consumed by business and private customers is 
metered and the quality is checked. The water lost from 
leaking pipes  is  roughly 3.3%  of  the  amount  distributed. 
There  has  been  a  steady  decrease  in  leakages  in  the 
water network over a number of years. 

German  cities  were  awarded  twice  the  European  Green 
Capital, Hamburg in 2011 and Essen in 2017.  

Hamburg  combined  comprehensive  approaches,  policy  -
commitment  and  the  necessary  funding  needed  to 
resolve  the  numerous  metropolitan  challenges.  On  the 
whole,  it  has  an  integrated  and  participative  planning 
strategy, a strong commitment towards a “green” vision 
and  structured  monitoring  with  respect  to  climate 
change. 

that 

Essen is making big efforts to establish itself as a ‘City in 
transformation’ 
is  overcoming  a  challenging 
industrial history to reinvent itself as a ‘Green City’. The 
City credits its citizens and their ability to change as key 
to  this  success,  which  is  visible  through  an  specific 
application  tag  line  “ESSENtials  –  changing  the  way  we 
act”. It has built green and blue corridors within the city 
and  is  investing  in  green  infrastructure.  In  addition,  the 
city  of  Essen  has  implemented  a  range  of  practices  to 
protect  and  enhance  nature  and  biodiversity.  Future 
plans focus not only on the greening of the city but also 
on the promotion of biodiversity in new green areas and 
in  particular  on  species  which  are  resilient  to  climate 
change. 

International agreements  

Committee of the Regions, Covenant of Mayors and others. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                                                                 
Part II: Enabling Framework: Implementation Tools 

4. Market based instruments and investment 

Germany  20 

revenues by 2030. 

Figure  11:  Environmental  tax  revenues  as  a  share  of 
total  revenues  from  taxes  and  social  contributions  
(excluding imputed social contributions) in 201482 

Green taxation and environmentally harmful 
subsidies 

The Circular Economy Action Plan encourages the use of 
financial  incentives  and  economic  instruments,  such  as 
taxation  to  ensure  that  product  prices  better  reflect 
environmental costs. The phasing out of environmentally 
harmful  subsidies  is  monitored  in  the  context  of  the 
European  Semester  and  in  national  reform  programmes 
submitted by Member States. 

Taxing pollution and resource use can generate increased 
revenue  and  brings  important  social  and  environmental 
benefits. 

tax 

in  2014 

revenue  amounted 

Environmental 
to  2%  of 
(EU28  average:  2.46%), 
Germany’s  GDP 
representing  an  11-year  low  for  Germany,  having  fallen 
from  2.6%  in  2003.  Considering  total  environmental 
taxation  revenue  as  a  proportion  of  GDP,  in  2014 
level  of 
Germany  ranked  22nd 
environmental  taxes  compared  to  total  taxes  and  social 
contributions is relatively low (5.24 % in Germany in 2014 
vs 6.35 % in the EU28) as shown in Figure 11.  

in  the  EU28.  The 

An  issue  of  concern  is  the  flat-rate  taxation  of  privately 
used  company  cars,  which  was  estimated  to  total  a 
subsidy of EUR 5,167 million in 201279. 

an 

additional 

is  considerable 
A  2016  study  suggests  that  there 
potential for shifting taxes from labour to environmental 
taxes80.  Under  a  good  practice  scenario81  these  could 
generate 
additional 
EUR 19,316 million  in  2018,  rising  to  EUR  41,607 million 
in 2030. This would be equivalent to 0.61% and 1.04% of 
GDP in 2018 and 2030, respectively. The largest potential 
source  of  revenue  would  come  from  suggested  increase 
in  vehicle  taxes  generating  EUR  25,422 million  of 

generate 

an 

79 Harding M. 2014. Personal Tax Treatment of Company Cars and 
Commuting Expenses – Estimating the Fiscal and Environmental 
Costs. OECD Taxation Working Papers, No. 20, p.27 

80 Eunomia Research and Consulting, IEEP, Aarhus University, ENT, 

2016. Study on Assessing the Environmental Fiscal Reform Potential 
for the EU28. N.B. National governments are responsible for setting 
tax rates within the EU Single Market rules and this report is not 
suggesting concrete changes as to the level of environmental 
taxation. It merely presents the findings of the 2016 study by 
Eunomia et al on the potential benefits various environmental taxes 
could bring. It is then for the national authorities to assess this study 
and their concrete impacts in the national context. A first step in this 
respect, already done by a number of Member States, is to set up 
expert groups to assess these and make specific proposals. 

81 The good practice scenario means benchmarking to a successful 

taxation practice in another Member State.  

Germany  introduced  an  ecological  tax  reform  program 
over  the  years  1999  to  2003,  where  rates  of  petrol  and 
increased.  At  the  same  time 
diesel  taxation  were 
electricity taxation was reintroduced. The introduction, in 
2005, of the German ‘Lkw-Maut’, a distance-based road-
pricing  scheme  for  heavy-goods  vehicles  on  motorways, 
was  agreed  under  the  same  government,  but  was 
technically not part of the tax reform. In 2006 taxes were 
introduced on  coal  with  the implementation  of  the  EU’s 
Energy Taxation Directive. 

Additional steps on market-based instruments generating 
fiscal revenues included the 2009 restructuring of vehicle 
taxation  on  the  basis,  at  least  in  part,  of  CO2  emission 
performance,  and  the 
in  2011,  of  an 
introduction, 
aviation tax and a tax on nuclear fuels. 

82 Eurostat, Environmental tax revenues, accessed October 2016 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
In recent years, no measures have been taken to broaden 
the  tax  base  by  reducing  environmentally  harmful  tax 
expenditure,  such  as  energy 
reductions  and 
exemptions or the favourable taxation of company cars. 

tax 

Guidelines88,  criteria  lists  and  vendor  questionnaires  for 
numerous  products  and  services  (heat  supply,  office 
equipment, furniture, consumer electronics, cleaning and 
hygiene) were elaborated. 

Germany  21 

A government coalition treaty establishes that Lkw-Maut, 
the  road-pricing  scheme,  should  be  extended  to  other 
federal roads. 

In  terms  of  progress  in  the  environmentally  harmful 
subsidies  (EHS)  reform,  Germany  has  begun  the  process 
of phasing-out its hard-coal mining subsidies by 2018. To 
progress further in this line of action, following a reform 
of  the  eco-tax  legislation  in  2012,  energy  intensive 
industries that are partly or fully exempted from the tax 
on  electricity  consumption,  are  obliged  to  introduce  an 
energy audit system or to make use of energy audits.  
According  to  a  study83  published  by  the  German 
environment  agency  (UBA)  in  2014,  the  level  of  EHS 
reached  EUR  52  billion,  of  which  EUR  24  billion  in  the 
area of transport followed by EUR 21.6 billion in the area 
of energy. 

Green Public Procurement  

The  EU  green  public  procurement  policies  encourage 
Member States to take further steps to reach the target 
of applying green procurement criteria to at least 50% of 
public tenders. 
Green  Public  Procurement  (GPP)  is  a  process  whereby 
public  authorities  seek  to  procure  goods,  services  and 
works  with  a  reduced  environmental  impact  throughout 
their  life-cycle  when  compared  to  goods,  services  and 
works  with  the  same  primary  function  that  would 
otherwise be procured.  

The  purchasing  power  of  public  procurement  equals  to 
approximately  14%  of  GDP84.  A  substantial  part  of  this 
money  is  spent  on  sectors  with  high  environmental 
impact such as construction or transport, so GPP can help 
to  significantly  lower  the  impact  of  public  spending  and 
foster sustainable innovative businesses. 

A national strategy on Green Public Procurement (GPP) is 
included  in  the  German  Integrated  energy  and  climate 
protection  programme85  which  establishes  mandatory 
targets for all authorities at federal level to use life-cycle 
in  their  procurement  procedures  to  ensure 
costing 
energy-efficient 
public 
procurement86.  The  Commission  has  proposed  EU  GPP 
criteria87. 

environment-friendly 

and 

83 Umweltbundesamt, Aktualisierte Ausgabe 2014. Umweltschädliche 

Subventionen in Deutschland, Dessau-Roßlau. 
84 European Commission, 2015. Public procurement 
85 Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und 

Reaktorsicherheit, Das Integrierte Energie- und 
Klimaschutzprogramm (IEKP) from 2008, revised in 2012 and 2013. 
86 European Commission, 2015. Documentation on National GPP Action 

the  German 

In  addition,  the  Federal  Government  committed  itself 
within 
Sustainable 
Development89 to translating sustainability into concrete 
administrative 
sustainable 
procurement. 

actions  by 

improving 

Strategy 

for 

According  to  a  2010  study,  the  share  of  German 
authorities  that  included  GPP  requirements  in  between 
50% and 100% of their contracts was estimated between 
10 and 20%90. 

According to a 2011 survey, German authorities included 
at  least  one  of  the  EU  core  green  criteria  in  60%  of  the 
GPP-relevant  contracts,  and  31%  of  the  contracts 
included all the relevant EU core green criteria91. 

Investments: contribution of EU funds  

European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  Regulations 
provide  that  Member  States  promote  environment  and 
funding  strategies  and 
climate  objectives 
territorial 
programmes 
cohesion,  rural  development  and  maritime  policy,  and 
reinforce the capacity of implementing bodies to deliver 
cost-effective and sustainable investments in these areas. 

in  their 
for  economic, 

social  and 

Making  good  use  of  the  European  Structural  and 
Investment  Funds  (ESIF)92  is  essential  to  achieve  the 
environmental goals and integrate these into other policy 
areas.  Other  instruments  such  as  the  Horizon  2020,  the 
LIFE  programme  and  European  Fund  for  Strategic 
Investment93  (EFSI)  may  also  support  implementation 
and spread off best practice. 

Germany  benefits,  through  47  national  and  regional 
programmes,  from  European  Structural  and  Investment 
Funds  (ESIF)  funding  of  EUR  27.9  billion  over  the  period 

Plans 

87 In the Communication “Public procurement for a better environment” 
(COM /2008/400) the Commission recommended the creation of a 
process for setting common GPP criteria. The basic concept of GPP 
relies on having clear, verifiable, justifiable and ambitious 
environmental criteria for products and services, based on a life-cycle 
approach and scientific evidence base. 

88 Umweltbundesamt, Product recommendations for green 

procurement for contracting authorities. 

89 German government “Perspectives for Germany – Our Strategy for 

Sustainable Development”, 2002 

90 Adelphi et al, 2011. Strategic Use of Public Procurement in Europe, 

report for the European Commission. 

91 CEPS, 2012. Monitoring the Uptake of GPP in the EU27 
92 ESIF comprises five funds – the European Regional Development 
Funds (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Social Fund 
(ESF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 
(EAFRD), and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The 
ERDF, the CF and the ESF together form the Cohesion Policy funds. 

93 EIB: European Fund for Strategic Investments 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
                                                                                                 
Germany  22 

the 
clearly  help 
greening  would 
environmental  situation  in  areas  not  covered  by  rural 
development, 
if 
appropriate Germany could review its implementation of 
this. 

areas,  and 

including 

intensive 

improve 

to 

Figure  12  depicts  the  2014-2020  EU  Structural  and 
Investment Funds budget allocation for Germany. 

Figure 12: EU Structural & Investment Funds 2014-2020: 
Budget Germany by theme, EUR billion95 

2014-202094. 

from 

(38.6%) 

is  coming 

EUR 10,773.8 million 
the 
European  Fund  for  Regional  Development  (ERDF),  EUR 
9445.9 million  (33.8%)  from  the  European  Agricultural 
Fund  for  Rural  Development  (EAFRD),  EUR 219.6 million 
(0.8%)  from  the  European  Maritime  and  Fisheries  Fund 
(EMFF)  and  EUR 7495.6 million 
the 
European Social Fund (ESF). 

(26.8%) 

from 

In  total,  EUR 3037.7 million  are  dedicated  to  the 
Thematic  objective  (TO)  Environment  Protection  and 
Resource  efficiency,  EUR 2268.6 million  through  the 
different  EAFRD  programmes,  EUR 655.8 million  through 
the ERDF programmes and EUR 113.3 million through the 
is 
EMFF  programme. 
foreseen 
and 
TO 
EUR 2714.5 million  for  TO  Climate  Change  Adoption  and 
Risk Prevention.  

In  addition,  EUR 2920.95 m 
Low  Carbon 

Economy 

for 

With regard to the integration of environmental concerns 
into  the  Common  Agricultural  Policy  (CAP),  the  two  key 
areas  for  Germany  (as  for  all  Member  States)  are,  first, 
using Rural Development funds to pay for environmental 
land  management  and  other  environmental  measures, 
while  avoiding  financing  measures  which  could  damage 
the  environment;  and  secondly,  ensuring  an  effective 
implementation of the first pillar of the CAP with regard 
to cross compliance and 1st pillar 'greening'.  

The  approved  National  Rural  Development  Program 
(EARDF)  amounts  overall  to  EUR 9383.8 million.  The 
planned spending on the ecosystem priority, priority 4 is 
EUR 4533 million,  which  represents  48.7%  of  the  total 
budget, and EUR 1963 million, 21.1% of the total budget 
is  dedicated  to  agri-environment-climate  measures.  In 
general  the  German  EARDFs  present  some  good 
measures and the link with environmental policies is well 
underpinned.  Some  area  such  as  the  North  West  of 
Germany  have  serious  environmental  problem  such  as 
water  pollution,  and  the  measures  in  place  will  not  be 
sufficient  to  solve  the  problems,  in  the  absence  of  the 
revision  of  the  baseline,  i.e.  the  Nitrates  Directive.  The 
figures at national level hide disparities. Two Länder are 
above 60 % for priority 4 (Bavaria, Baden Wurttemberg) 
but one is below 40% (Saxony). Two Länder have a very 
low budget for agri-environment measures (Brandenburg 
and  Hessen  are  below  10%)  while  Bavaria  and  Baden 
Wurttemberg put a high effort on the environment: they 
allocate  an  amount  above  30  %  of  their  budget  to  agri-
environment measures. 

The Direct Payment envelope of Germany for the period 
2015-2020  is  EUR 24,254 million,  according  to  common 
provisions,  30  %  of  which  (7,28 m)  being  allocated  to 
greening  practices  beneficial  for  the  environment.  An 
environmentally  ambitious  implementation  of  1st  pillar 

94 European Commission : European Structural and Investment Funds 

It is too early to draw conclusions as regards the use and 
results of ESIF for the period 2014-2020, as the relevant 
programmes  are  still 
in  an  early  stage  of  their 
implementation. However, concrete results are expected 
to  be  achieved  with  ERDF  support  in  Germany  2014-20, 
such  as  a  decrease  of  annual  primary  energy 
consumption of public buildings of more than 233 million 
KWh/year,  and  the  creation  or  rehabilitation  of  more 
than  5  million  square  meters  of  open  space  in  urban 
areas. 

In  addition,  the  Renewable  energy  finance  guarantee,  a 
loans  to  renewable  energy 
risk–sharing  facility  for 
projects  in  Germany  and  France  is  under  assessment 
under  the  European  Funds  for  Strategic  Investments 
(EFSI)96.  Under  the  same  umbrella  agreements  with  an 
intermediary  bank  have  been  signed  for  SME  financing 
provided  by  European  Investment  Fund  (EIF)  amounting 
to EUR 203 million. 

In  February  2015,  Germany  announced  that 
it  will 
contribute  EUR 8 billion97n  to  the  Investment  Plan  for 
Europe through the KfW Bankengruppe (German banking 

95 European Commission, European Structural and Investment Funds 

Data By Country 

96 European Commission Country factsheets - Investment Plan  
97 European commission, 2015: Investment Plan for Europe: EFSI ready 

Country Data for Germany 

for take-off 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
 
                                                            
group).  

Germany  23 

Integrated 

contribute 

Living  River 
to 

LIFE  Project 
will 

Lahn 
The 
(EUR 15.7 million)98 
the 
implementation  of  the  Water  Framework  Directive  in 
order  to  achieve  a  "good  ecological  status"  of  surface 
waters  in  the  catchment  area  of  the  Lahn  River  in  the 
German  Laender  Hessen  and  Rhineland-Palatinate.  In 
addition  to  the  LIFE  funding  itself,  the  project  will 
facilitate the coordinated use of around EUR 28 million in 
complementary  funding  from  the  European  Agricultural 
Fund for Rural Development and national funds. 

98 LIFE Programme: Integrated LIFE projects, February 2016 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
5. Effective governance and knowledge 

Germany  24 

SDG  16  aims  at  providing  access  to  justice  and  building 
effective,  accountable  and  inclusive  institutions  at  all 
levels. SDG 17 aims at better implementation, improving 
policy  coordination  and  policy  coherence,  stimulating 
science, 
innovation,  establishing 
partnerships and developing measurements of progress. 

technology 

and 

Effective governance of EU environmental legislation and 
policies  requires  having  an  appropriate 
institutional 
framework,  policy  coherence  and  coordination,  applying 
legal  and  non-legal  instruments,  engaging  with  non-
governmental  stakeholders,  and  having  adequate  levels 
of  knowledge  and  skills99.  Successful  implementation 
depends, to a large extent, on central, regional and local 
government  fulfilling  key  legislative  and  administrative 
tasks,  notably  adoption  of 
implementing 
legislation,  co-ordinated  action  to  meet  environmental 
objectives  and  correct  decision-making  on  matters  such 
as  industrial  permits.  Beyond  fulfilment  of  these  tasks, 
to  ensure  day-to-day 
government  must 
compliance  by  economic  operators,  utilities  and 
individuals  ("compliance  assurance").  Civil  society  also 
has  a  role  to  play,  including  through  legal  action.  To 
underpin the roles of all actors, it is crucial to collect and 
share  knowledge  and  evidence  on  the  state  of  the 
environment  and  on  environmental  pressures,  drivers 
and impacts. 

intervene 

sound 

implemented  when 

Equally,  effective  governance  of  EU  environmental 
legislation  and  policies  benefits  from  a  dialogue  within 
Member  States  and  between  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  on  whether  the  current  EU  environmental 
legislation  is  fit  for  purpose.  Legislation  can  only  be 
properly 
into  account 
experiences  at  Member  State  level  with  putting  EU 
commitments  into  effect.  The  Make  it  Work  initiative,  a 
Member  State  driven  project,  established 
in  2014, 
organizes a discussion on how the clarity, coherence and 
legislation  can  be 
structure  of  EU  environmental 
improved,  without 
protection 
existing 
standards. 

lowering 

it  takes 

Effective governance within central, regional 
and local government 

Those  involved  in  implementing  environment  legislation 
at  Union,  national,  regional  and  local  levels  need  to  be 
equipped  with  the  knowledge,  tools  and  capacity  to 
improve  the  delivery  of  benefits  from  that  legislation, 
and the governance of the enforcement process. 

Capacity to implement rules 

is 

that 

crucial 

regional  and 

local 
central, 
It 
administrations  have  the  necessary  capacities  and  skills 
and training to carry out their own tasks and co-operate 
and  co-ordinate  effectively  with  each  other,  within  a 
system  of  multi-level  governance.  The  given  assessment 
is  only  preliminary  since  the  Commission  has  work 
ongoing  to 
improve  the  country-specific  knowledge 
about the quality and functioning of their administrative 
system. 

The  2013  European  Quality  of  Government  Index  puts 
Germany ninth place out of the 28 Member States100. 

Germany is one of the Member States that increased its 
budgetary  expenditure  on  the  environment,  in  resource 
in  green  growth  areas,  alongside 
efficiency  and 
budgetary 
in  non-environmental  areas. 
Spending  by  the  BMU  almost  doubled  from  2008-2012 
(from EUR 847,000 to EUR 1.6 million). 

increases 

for 

The transposition of the revised EIA Directive101 will be an 
opportunity  to  streamline  the  regulatory  framework  on 
environmental assessments. The Commission encourages 
the  streamlining  of  the  environmental  assessments 
because  this  approach  reduces  duplication  and  avoids 
unnecessary  overlaps 
in  environmental  assessments 
a  particular  project.  Moreover, 
applicable 
streamlining  helps  reducing  unnecessary  administrative 
burden  and  accelerates  decision-making,  without 
compromising 
the  environmental 
assessment  procedure.  The  Commission  has  issued  a 
guidance  document  in  2016  regarding  the  setting  up  of 
coordinated 
are 
simultaneously  subject  to  assessments  under  the  EIA 
Directive, Habitats Directive, Water Framework Directive, 

joint  procedures 

the  quality  of 

and/or 

that 

99 The Commission has work ongoing to improve the country-specific 
knowledge about quality and functioning of the administrative 
systems of Member States. 

100 European Commission, Working Paper "Regional Governance 
Matters: A Study on Regional Variation in Quality of Government within 
the EU  https://nicholascharron.wordpress.com/european-quality-of-
government-index-eqi/ 

101 The transposition of Directive 2014/52/EU is due in May 2017. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
                                                            
and the Industrial Emissions Directive102. 

Legislative competences are shared between the federal 
level  (“Bund”)  and  the  level  of  the  Länder.  The  2006 
reform  of  the  Constitution  transferred  more  policies  to 
the  federal  level.  Most  environmental  policies  (waste 
disposal, air protection, water and nature protection) are 
“concurrent  [shared]  competences”,  where  the  Länder 
have  the  right  to  adopt  their  own  provisions  as  long  as 
the “Bund” refrains from legislation; in some areas under 
the  condition  that  uniform  laws  are  required  for  the 
whole  country.  This  is  the  case  for  instance  where  EU 
environmental law needs to be implemented. It is mainly 
up  to  the  “Bund”  to  transpose  these  provisions  into 
national  legislation.  Where  the  Bund  makes  use  of  the 
“concurrent  competence”, 
the  Länder  may  adopt 
additional  legislation.  However,  they  may  only  deviate 
from the “Bund”  legislation in a few special policy areas 
exhaustively  listed  in  the  constitution103    such  as  certain 
topics  of  water  and  nature  protection  law  (“derogatory 
power”). 

initiatives  are  prepared  by  the  Federal 
Legislative 
Ministry  for  the  Environment,  Nature  Conservation, 
Building  and  Nuclear  Safety  (Bundesministerium  für 
Umwelt,  Naturschutz,  Bau  und  Reaktorsicherheit  – 
level,  and  by  the  environmental 
BMUB)  at  federal 
ministries  of 
the  Länder.  They  are  co-ordinated 
horizontally with the other ministries concerned. 

Compliance  performance  in  Germany  is  good,  with  a 
relatively  high  number  of  complaints,  and  considerably 
less  Pilots  and  infringement  cases.  Cases  often  focus  on 
differing  interpretations  of  EU  law.  Nature  protection, 
River Water management and air pollution have also led 
to  a  number  of  cases  and  the  last  two  are  of  increasing 
concern. 

In some of the environmental cases where individuals or 
NGOs have gained access before the national courts over 
the  past  years,  the  German  judges  referred  several 
requests for preliminary rulings to the Court of Justice of 
the  EU.  This  represented  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
development  of  EU  environment  law,  since  preliminary 
rulings  enable  the  Court  of  Justice  to  give  a  coherent 
interpretation of the EU law. 

Germany  has  established  a  specialised  environmental 
protection  agency  (Umweltbundesamt104,  UBA)  whose 
main tasks centre around gathering data concerning the 
state  of  the  environment,  investigating  the  relevant 
interrelationships  and  making  projections  and  then, 
based on these findings, providing federal bodies such as 
the Ministry of the Environment with policy advice. It also 

102 European Commission, 2016. Guidance document on streamlining 
environmental assessments conducted under Article 2(3) of the 
Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. 

103 See Art. 72 Abs. 3 GG 
104 Umweltbundesamt is the German environmental protection agency  

Germany  25 

from 

these 

activities,  UBA 

provides the general public with information and answer 
questions  on  all  of  the  various  issues  that  it  addresses. 
Apart 
implements 
environmental  law  by  making  sure  that  it  is  applied  in 
areas  such  as  CO2  trading  and  approval  processes  for 
chemicals,  pharmaceutical  drugs  and  pesticides.  UBA´s 
mission  is  early  detection  of  environmental  risks  and 
threats  so  that  it  can  assess  them  and  find  viable 
solutions for them in a timely manner. UBA does this by 
conducting  research  in  its  own  labs  and  by  outsourcing 
research to scientific institutions in German and abroad. 

Coordination and integration 

its  National 

Since  2002,  the  German  government  has  continuously 
Sustainable  Development 
updated 
Strategy105,  which 
the 
sustainable 
implementation  of 
development  in  the  Federal  Government  Policy  as  a 
whole.  The  latest  Progress  Report  has  been  adopted  in 
2012, another one, organising the strategy around the 17 
SDGs, will follow in late 2016. 

serves  as  a  guide 
the  principles  of 

for 

a 

for 

The  Management 
Sustainable 
Concept 
Development  consists  of  management  rules,  indicators 
and  targets  as  well  as  institutions  to  steer  the  strategy: 
The  ten  management  rules  summarise  the  guiding 
principle of sustainable development and the associated 
requirements. Key indicators for 21 fields of action have 
been  associated  with  38  goals,  most  of  which  can  be 
quantified. 

the 

sustainability 

the  details  of 

The  State  Secretaries’  Committee 
for  Sustainable 
Development which is chaired by the Head of the Federal 
Chancellery is in charge of the further development and 
monitoring  of  the  national  strategy.  The  Committee 
updates 
the  National  Sustainable 
Development  Strategy  and  regularly  monitors  the 
development  of 
indicators.  All 
ministries are involved in shaping and implementing the 
strategy.  The  Committee  is  also  the  contact  for  the 
Parliamentary  Advisory 
Sustainable 
Development, for the federal states (Länder) and for the 
associations  of  local  authorities  as  well  as  the  German 
Council for Sustainable Development. To provide external 
expertise  the  German  government  also  put  in  place  the 
German  Council  for  Sustainable  Development  in  2001. 
The Sustainable Development Council advises the Federal 
Government  on  all  matters  relating  to  sustainable 
development. 

Council 

for 

105 Bundesregierung Deutschland, 2002. German Sustainable 

Development Strategy 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
 
 
                                                            
Compliance assurance 

EU  law  generally  and  specific  provisions  on  inspections, 
other  checks,  penalties  and  environmental  liability  help 
lay  the  basis  for  the  systems  Member  States  need  to 
secure  compliance  with  EU 
to 
have 
environmental rules. 

in  place 

Public  authorities  help  ensure  accountability  of  duty-
holders by monitoring and promoting compliance and by 
taking credible follow-up action (i.e. enforcement) when 
breaches occur or liabilities arise. Compliance monitoring 
can  be  done  both  on  the 
initiative  of  authorities 
themselves  and  in  response to  citizen complaints. It  can 
involve  using  various  kinds  of  checks, 
including 
inspections  for  permitted  activities,  surveillance  for 
possible  illegal  activities,  investigations  for  crimes  and 
audits for systemic weaknesses. Similarly, there is a range 
of  means  to  promote  compliance,  including  awareness-
raising  campaigns  and  use  of  guidance  documents  and 
online  information  tools.  Follow-up  to  breaches  and 
(e.g. 
liabilities  can 
withdrawal of a permit), use of criminal law106 and action 
law  (e.g.  required  remediation  after 
under 
damage  from  an  accident  using 
liability  rules)  and 
contractual  law  (e.g.  measures  to  require  compliance 
with  nature  conservation  contracts).  Taken  together,  all 
of these interventions represent "compliance assurance" 
as shown in Figure13. 

include  administrative  action 

liability 

Figure 13: Environmental compliance assurance 

Best  practice  has  moved  towards  a  risk-based  approach 
at strategic and operational levels in which the best mix 
of compliance monitoring, promotion and enforcement is 
directed at the most serious problems. Best practice also 
recognises  the  need  for  coordination  and  cooperation 
between  different  authorities  to  ensure  consistency, 
avoid  duplication  of  work  and  reduce  administrative 
burden. Active participation in established pan-European 
networks  of  inspectors,  police,  prosecutors  and  judges, 
such as IMPEL107, EUFJE108, ENPE109 and EnviCrimeNet110, 

106 European Union, Environmental Crime Directive 2008/99/EC 
107 European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement 

Germany  26 

is  a  valuable  tool  for  sharing  experience  and  good 
practices. 

Currently, there exist a number of sectoral obligations on 
inspections  and  the  EU  directive  on  environmental 
liability  (ELD)111  provides  a  means  of  ensuring  that  the 
"polluter-pays  principle" 
is  applied  when  there  are 
accidents  and  incidents  that  harm  the  environment. 
There 
information  giving 
insights  into  existing  strengths  and  weaknesses  in  each 
Member State.  

is  also  publically  available 

For  each  Member  State,  the  following  were  therefore 
reviewed:  use  of  risk-based  compliance  assurance; 
coordination  and  co-operation  between  authorities  and 
participation in pan-European networks; and key aspects 
of implementation of the ELD based on the Commission's 
recently  published  implementation  report  and  REFIT 
evaluation112.  

Germany has taken steps towards risk-based compliance 
assurance,  notably  use  of  sophisticated  risk-criteria  to 
particular 
in 
target 
concerning supervision of industrial facilities. 

environmental 

inspections, 

Up-to-date information is nevertheless lacking in relation 
to the following: 

 

  data-collection  arrangements  to  track  the  use  and 
effectiveness  of  different  compliance  assurance 
interventions113; 
the extent to which risk-based methods are used to 
direct  compliance  assurance  at  the  strategic  level 
and 
in  relation  to  critical  activities  outside  of 
industrial  installations,  especially  specific  problem-
areas  highlighted  elsewhere  in  this  Country  Report, 
i.e.  the  threats  to  protected  habitat  types  and 
species, poor air quality and the pressures on water 
quality from diffuse sources of pollution.  

A  good  example  of  cooperation  and  coordination  is  the 
task  force  (“Stabsstelle  Umweltkriminalität”)  established 
in Nordrhein-Westfalen to ensure effective coordination, 

of Environmental Law  

108 European Union Forum of judges for the environment 
109 The European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment 
110 EnviCrimeNet  
111 European Union, Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/CE 
112 COM(2016)204 final and COM(2016)121 final of 14.4.2016. This 

highlighted the need for better evidence on how the directive is used 
in practice; for tools to support its implementation, such as guidance, 
training and ELD registers; and for financial security to be available in 
case events or incidents generate remediation costs. 

113 Some good practices have been noted such as publication of 

environmental inspections reports, including information on the level 
of detected non-compliance See for instance for North Rhine-
Westphalia: 
http://www.brd.nrw.de/umweltschutz/umweltinspektionen/Umwelt
inspektionsberichte.html. This transparency is supported by national 
case-law, see decision of the Higher Administrative Court of North 
Rhine-Westphalia, 8 B 1101/14: 
https://www.justiz.nrw.de/nrwe/ovgs/ovg_nrw/j2014/8_B_1101_14
_Beschluss_20141106.html 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
 
                                                            
                                                                                                 
better  targeted  compliance  monitoring  and  efficient 
information  provided  by  citizens114. 
treatment  of 
is  very  active  within  the  environmental 
Germany 
compliance  assurance  networks, 
in  particular  within 
IMPEL.  For  instance,  it  led  a  long-term  project  in  whose 
framework  a  risk  assessment  tool  for  planning  of 
Integrated  Risk 
environmental 
Assessment  Method  (IRAM)  was  developed  and 
is 
currently used by many IMPEL members' authorities115. 

inspections 

called 

Together with the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and 
other  Member  States,  Germany  prepared 
in  the 
framework  of  the  'Make  it  Work'  project  principles  for 
in  EU 
drafting  provisions  on  compliance  assurance 
Environmental law116. 

For the period 2007-2013, Germany reported 60 cases of 
environmental damage handled under the Environmental 
Liability  Directive.  This  included  a  share  of  biodiversity 
damage cases (often viewed as more difficult due to their 
novelty at EU level) well above the EU average. However, 
there  is  scope  for  further  measures  to  improve  the 
implementation of the Directive. While Germany did not 
introduce  mandatory  financial  security,  the  insurance 
market  appears  to  work  effectively,  with  good  levels  of 
voluntary  take-up,  providing  a  model  for  other  Member 
States of how a voluntary approach can work.  

Suggested action 

  Improve 

  Step  up  efforts 

transparency  on 

the  organisation  and 
functioning  of  compliance  assurance  and  on  how 
significant risks are addressed, as outlined above.  
in  the 

implementation  of  the 
Environmental  Liability  Directive  (ELD)  to  improve  the 
evidence base in Germany with proactive initiatives, in 
particular  by  setting  up  a  national  register  of  ELD 
incidents. 

Public participation and access to justice 

The  Aarhus  Convention,  related  EU  legislation  on  public 
participation and environmental impact assessment, and 
the case-law of the Court of Justice require that citizens 
and  their  associations  should  be  able  to  participate  in 
decision-making  on  projects  and  plans  and  should  enjoy 
effective environmental access to justice. 

Citizens  can  more  effectively  protect  the  environment  if 

114 It has been explored that the clear increase in detected illegally killed 
birds of prey is very likely linked to the activities of this task force, 
see 'Stocktaking of the main problems and review of national 
enforcement mechanisms for tackling illegal killing, trapping and 
trade of birds in the EU', BioIntelligence, 2011, p. 18 and 92. 
However, the same study also indicates some inconsistent use of 
cooperation mechanisms across the country, p. 93.  
115 For more detailed information on this IMPEL project see 
http://www.impel.eu/tools/risk-criteria-database-iram/.  

116http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1791/MiW_drafting_principles_on_comp

liance_assurance_July_2015.pdf.  

Germany  27 

they can rely on the three "pillars" of the Convention on 
Access  to  Information,  Public  Participation  in  Decision-
making  and  Access  to  Justice  in  Environmental  Matters 
("the  Aarhus  Convention").  Public  participation  in  the 
administrative  decision  making  process  is  an  important 
element to ensure that the authority takes its decision on 
the  best  possible  basis.  The  Commission  intends  to 
examine compliance with mandatory public participation 
requirements more systematically at a later stage. 

Access  to  justice  in  environmental  matters  is  a  set  of 
guarantees  that  allows  citizens  and  their  associations  to 
challenge  acts  or  omissions  of  the  public  administration 
for  decentralised 
It 
before  a  court. 
implementation of EU environmental law. 

is  a 

tool 

For  each  Member  State,  two  crucial  elements  for 
effective  access  to  justice  have  been  systematically 
reviewed:  the  legal  standing  for  the  public,  including 
NGOs and the extent to which prohibitive costs represent 
a barrier. 

in 

Germany has a predictable and transparent legal review 
system  for  environmental  cases.  The  courts  exercise  a 
comprehensive  legal  review  of  administrative  acts  and 
omissions.  However, 
sectors  of  EU 
environmental  law  the  German  law  does  not  provide 
standing for the public (such as air, waste and water), in 
particular  not  for  environmental  NGOs117.  Furthermore 
recent  judgments  of  the  CJEU  on  access  to  justice  in 
environmental  matters118  still  have  to  be  complied  with 
in the national law.  

several 

Suggested action 

  Take  the  necessary  measures  to  ensure  standing  of 
environmental NGOs to challenge acts or omissions of 
a public authority in all sectoral EU environmental laws, 
law  as  well  as  the 
in  full  compliance  with  EU 
Information,  Public 
to 
Convention  on  Access 
Participation  in  Decision-making  and  Access  to  Justice 
in environmental matters (Aarhus Convention)119. 

Access to information, knowledge and 
evidence 

The  Aarhus  Convention  and  related  EU  legislation  on 
access  to  information  and  the  sharing  of  spatial  data 
require that the public has access to clear information on 
the environment, including on how Union environmental 
law is being implemented. 

It is of crucial importance to public authorities, the public 

117 Access to justice, 2012/2013. Implementation of Articles 9.3 and 9.4 
of the Aarhus Convention in the Member States of the European 
Union, study for the European Commission. 

118 case C-137/14 –Commission v Germany 
119 In 2016 the Federal Government adopted the “Draft Bill aligning the 
Environmental Appeals Act and other Provisions to Stipulations of 
European and International Law”. 

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany 

 
                                                            
                                                            
Germany  28 

law.  Germany, 

and  monitoring 

regulations 
led  by 

required  to  be  made  available  under  the  existing 
reporting 
EU 
of 
environmental 
its  steering 
committee  on  spatial  data  infrastructure  and  national 
focus point on INSPIRE has set up an initiative, as part of 
an  action  plan  to  further  improve  implementation,  to 
identify existing but not accessible electronic datasets so 
far.  In  the  short  run,  these  data  shall  be  made  available 
“as is”. 

Suggested action 

  Identify and document all spatial data sets required for 
the  implementation  of  environmental  law,  and  make 
the  data  and  documentation  at  least  accessible  'as  is' 
to  other  public  authorities  and  the  public  through  the 
digital services foreseen in the INSPIRE Directive. 

authorities 

public 
the  public, 

and 
increasingly 

and business that environmental information is shared in 
an  efficient  and  effective  way.  This  covers  reporting  by 
active 
and 
businesses 
dissemination 
through 
to 
electronic means. 
The  Aarhus  Convention120,  the  Access  to  Environmental 
Information  Directive121  and  the  INSPIRE  Directive122 
together  create  a  legal  foundation  for  the  sharing  of 
environmental  information  between  public  authorities 
and with the public. They also represent the green part of 
the  ongoing  EU  e-Government  Action  Plan123.  The  first 
two 
to  provide 
information  to  the  public,  both  on  request  and  actively. 
The  INSPIRE  Directive  is  a  pioneering  instrument  for 
electronic  data-sharing  between  public  authorities  who 
can  vary  in  their  data-sharing  policies,  e.g.  on  whether 
access to data is for free. The INSPIRE Directive sets up a 
geoportal which indicates the level of shared spatial data 
in  each  Member  State  –  i.e.  data  related  to  specific 
locations,  such  as  air  quality  monitoring  data.  Amongst 
it  facilitates  the  public  authorities' 
other  benefits 
reporting obligations.  

create  obligations 

instruments 

For  each  Member 
accessibility  of 
State, 
environmental data (based on what the INSPIRE Directive 
envisages)  as  well  as  data-sharing  policies  ('open  data') 
have been systematically reviewed.  

the 

Germany's  performance  on  the  implementation  of  the 
INSPIRE  Directive  as  enabling  framework  to  actively 
disseminate  environmental  information  to  the  public  is 
good.  Germany  has  indicated  in  the  3-yearly  INSPIRE 
implementation report124 that the necessary data-sharing 
policies  allowing  access  and  use  of  spatial  data  by 
national 
States' 
administrations,  other  Member 
administrations  and  EU  institutions  without  procedural 
obstacles  are  available. 
In  absence  of  data-sharing 
policies  at  other  administrative  levels,  Federal  law  is  in 
place to regulate and facilitate the sharing of spatial data. 
Assessments of monitoring reports125 issued by Germany 
and  the  spatial  information  that  Germany has  published 
on  the  INSPIRE  geoportal126  indicate  that  not  all  spatial 
information 
and 
for 
implementation of EU environmental law has been made 
available  or  is  accessible.  The  larger  part  of  this  missing 
spatial  information  consists  of  the  environmental  data 

evaluation 

needed 

the 

120UNECE, 1998. Convention on Access to Information, Public 
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in 
Environmental Matters  

121 European Union, Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to 

environmental information 

122 European Union, INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC  
123 Communication: EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 - 

Accelerating the digital transformation of government COM(2016) 
179 final 

124 European Commission, INSPIRE reports 
125 Inspire indicator trends  
126 Inspire Resources Summary Report  

Environmental Implementation Report – Germany