COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019 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 Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life
Date: 2019-04-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Germany, application of EU law, climate change policy, environmental law, environmental protection, governance, green economy, public health, quality of the environment

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 4.4.2019  SWD(2019) 137 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019       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 Environmental Implementation Review 2019:  A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life   {COM(2019) 149 final} - {SWD(2019) 111 final} - {SWD(2019) 112 final} - {SWD(2019) 113 final} - {SWD(2019) 114 final} - {SWD(2019) 115 final} - {SWD(2019) 116 final} - {SWD(2019) 117 final} - {SWD(2019) 118 final} - {SWD(2019) 119 final} - {SWD(2019) 120 final} - {SWD(2019) 121 final} - {SWD(2019) 122 final} - {SWD(2019) 123 final} - {SWD(2019) 124 final} - {SWD(2019) 125 final} - {SWD(2019) 126 final} - {SWD(2019) 127 final} - {SWD(2019) 128 final} - {SWD(2019) 129 final} - {SWD(2019) 130 final} - {SWD(2019) 131 final} - {SWD(2019) 132 final} - {SWD(2019) 133 final} - {SWD(2019) 134 final} - {SWD(2019) 135 final} - {SWD(2019) 136 final} - {SWD(2019) 138 final} - {SWD(2019) 139 final}  
 
 
This  report  has  been  written  by  the  staff  of  the  Directorate-General  for  Environment,  European  Commission. 
Comments are welcome, please send them to ENV-EIR@ec.europa.eu 

More information on the European Union is available at http://europa.eu. 

Photographs:  p. 10  —  ©iStock/MikeMareen;  p. 15  —  ©iStock/typhoonski;  p. 21  —  ©iStock/schmidt-z;  p. 25  — 
©gettyimages/golero; p. 29 — ©iStock/Sean Pavone 

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

©European Union, 2019 

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 3 

PART I: THEMATIC AREAS .............................................................................................................................. 4 

1. 

TURNING  THE  EU  INTO  A  CIRCULAR,  RESOURCE-EFFICIENT,  GREEN  AND  COMPETITIVE  LOW-
CARBON ECONOMY .............................................................................................................................. 4 

Measures towards a circular economy ................................................................................................. 4 
Waste management .............................................................................................................................. 6 
Climate change ...................................................................................................................................... 7 

2. 

PROTECTING, CONSERVING AND ENHANCING NATURAL CAPITAL .................................................. 10 

Nature and biodiversity ....................................................................................................................... 10 
Maintaining and restoring ecosystems and their services .................................................................. 11 
Estimating natural capital ................................................................................................................... 12 
Invasive alien species .......................................................................................................................... 12 
Soil protection ..................................................................................................................................... 12 
Marine protection ............................................................................................................................... 13 

3. 

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

Air quality ............................................................................................................................................ 15 
Industrial emissions ............................................................................................................................. 16 
 ................................................................................................................................................. 17 
Noise 
Water quality and management ......................................................................................................... 18 
Chemicals ............................................................................................................................................ 20 
Making cities more sustainable ........................................................................................................... 20 

PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK: IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ................................................................... 23 

4. 

GREEN  TAXATION,  GREEN  PUBLIC  PROCUREMENT,  ENVIRONMENTAL  FUNDING  AND 
INVESTMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 23 

Green taxation and environmentally harmful subsidies ..................................................................... 23 
Green public procurement .................................................................................................................. 24 
Environmental funding and investments ............................................................................................ 24 

5. 

STRENGTHENING ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE ......................................................................... 28 

Information, public participation and access to justice ...................................................................... 28 
Compliance assurance ......................................................................................................................... 29 
Effectiveness of environmental administrations ................................................................................ 31 
International agreements ................................................................................................................... 32 
Sustainable development and the implementation of the UN SDGs .................................................. 33 

2 

 
 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Executive summary 

measures for protected species and habitats to maintain 
or  restore  good  conservation  status.  However,  despite 
some  local  success  stories,  Germany  needs  to  intensify 
its  efforts  to  stop  and  reverse  negative  trends  on  some 
habitat types and species.  

Germany  is  progressing  in  its  transition  to  a  circular 
economy.  It  is  among  the  best  performers  in  the  EU  as 
regards waste management and has already reached the 
EU’s  2020  municipal  waste  recycling  target.  However,  it 
also  generates  far  more  waste  than  the  EU  average, 
which  has  remained  stable  over  the  last  five  years. 
Germany is encouraged to step up its efforts to prevent 
waste, in particular single-use plastics, and to make reuse 
and recycling more economically attractive.  

Germany  is  very  active  in  international  environment 
the  UN  sustainable 
policy  and 
in 
it  was  among  the  first 
development  goals  (SDGs); 
countries  to  carry  out  a  voluntary  national  review  on 
their implementation. 

implementing 

Examples of good practice  

Germany’s  strong  performance  on  eco-innovation  has 
helped  to  develop  a  successful  and  highly  competitive 
environmental goods industry, particularly in the fields of 
clean energy and water technology.  

Baden-Württemberg’s  agro-environment  measure  pays 
farmers who manage species-rich grassland with at least 
four  wildflower  species,  and  thus  promote  grassland 
biodiversity.  

Bavaria’s  Natura  2000  award 
for  municipalities, 
supported  by  an  EU-LIFE  project,  is  an  example  of  good 
practice in awareness-raising.  

Germany  and 
Review (EIR) 

the  Environmental 

Implementation 

In  the  2017  EIR  report,  the  main  challenges  identified 
with  regard  to  the  implementation  of EU  environmental 
policy and law in Germany were:  

 

 

 

improving air quality;  

addressing water pollution; and  

completing  the  process  of  designating  sites  for 
the Natura 2000 network.  

Germany has not yet organised an EIR national dialogue 
whereby it could have addressed these challenges.  

learning 

between 

In  2017,  the  Commission 
launched  the  TAIEX-EIR 
Peer-to-Peer  (EIR  P2P)  as  a  new  tool  facilitating 
peer-to-peer 
environmental 
authorities.  German  experts participated  in  three  expert 
workshops  on  air  quality,  exchanging  knowledge  and 
experience  of  effective  measures  to  reduce  emissions 
from  domestic  heating,  air  quality  plans  in  urban  areas 
where  pollutant  levels  are  exceeded,  and  reducing  road 
transport emissions. 

Progress since the 2017 EIR 

On air quality, there has been some progress in reducing 
emissions  as  a  whole,  however,  there  are  still  35  out  of 
89 zones that report NO2 concentrations above the target 
value in 2017. The Commission decided to refer Germany 
to  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  EU.  Germany  should  take 
effective  and  timely  measures  to  reduce  air  pollution 
through NO2 by further lowering emissions from cars, in 
particular  diesel  cars  in  urban  areas.  Targeted  and 
proportionate  vehicle  access  restrictions  may  be  one 
effective  means.  Also,  it  should  cut  ammonia  emissions 
by introducing low-emission agricultural techniques.  

Germany  is  advanced  as  regards  urban  wastewater 
treatment.  However,  nitrate  pollution  of  surface  water, 
and  especially  ground  water,  remains  a  serious  concern 
and only marginal progress has been made in reducing it. 
Excess  nitrates  contribute  to  eutrophication  the  North 
and  Baltic  Seas,  and  the  costs  of  removing  them  from 
drinking water are rising. Effective measures are needed 
to  address  excess  nitrate  deposition,  especially  in  areas 
with  high  livestock  density,  to  achieve  compliance  with 
the  Nitrates  Directive.  The  assessment  of  the  second 
river basin management plans has shown that only 10 % 
of surface water bodies have good ecological status.  

On  nature  conservation,  some  progress  has  been  made 
in  designating  special  areas  of  conservation  (SACs)  for 
the  Natura  2000  network and stepping up conservation 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Part I: Thematic areas 

1. 

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

competitive low-carbon economy 

Measures towards a circular economy 

The  Circular  Economy  Action  Plan  emphasises  the  need 
to  move  towards  a  life-cycle-driven  ‘circular’  economy, 
reusing  resources  as  much  as  possible  and  bringing 
residual  waste  close  to  zero.  This  can  be  facilitated  by 
developing  and  providing  access  to  innovative  financial 
instruments and funding for eco-innovation. 

Following  the  adoption  of  the  Circular  Economy  Action 
Plan in 2015 and the setting up of a related stakeholder 
platform  in  2017,  the  European  Commission  adopted  a 
new  package  of  deliverables  in  January  2018 1.  This 
included  additional  initiatives  such  as:  (i)  an  EU  strategy 
for plastics; (ii) a Communication on how to address the 
interplay  between  chemical,  product  and  waste 
legislation; (iii) a report on critical raw materials; and (iv) 
a  framework  to  monitor  progress  towards  a  circular 
economy2. 

Among the key indicators for monitoring the transition to 
a  circular  economy  is  the  circular  (secondary)  use  of 
material. On this, Germany scored 11.4 % in 2017 (close 
to  the  EU  average  of  11.7 %).  The  number  of  people 
employed in the circular economy is also in line with the 
EU  average  (1.47 %  of  total  employment  in  2017,  as 
compared with 1.73 %). 

In  the  2017  Special  Eurobarometer  468  on  attitudes  of 
EU  citizens  towards  the  environment3,  86 %  of  German 
citizens  said  they  were  concerned  about  the  effects  of 
plastic  products  on  the  environment  (EU  average  87 %). 
89 %  said  they  were  worried  about  the  impact  of 
chemicals (EU average 90 %).  

(as  confirmed 

Generally,  there  is  clear  support  in  German  society  and 
government 
the  new  coalition 
agreement)  for  strengthening  and  further  developing 
circular economy initiatives. Germany, however, does not 
have  a  dedicated  circular  economy  strategy  at  national 
level.  

in 

One  key  programme  to  promote  the  transition  to  a 
circular  economy  is  the  2016-2019  ProgRess II  resource 

1 European Commission, 2018 Circular Economy Package. 
2 COM(2018) 029. 
3 European Commission, 2017, Special Eurobarometer 486, Attitudes of 
European citizens towards the environment. 

4 

efficiency programme4, which is now in its second phase. 
In  addition  to  waste  policy,  its  123  measures  cover 
sustainable building and sustainable urban development, 
information  and 
and 
communications technology (ICT) products.  

resource  efficiency  of 

the 

The  national  programme  for  sustainable  consumption 
(Nationales  Programm  für  nachhaltigen  Konsum) 5 , 
introduced  in  2016,  seeks  to  give  consumers  more 
information  on  the  impacts  of  their  consumption,  while 
mapping  alternatives 
increase  efficiency  and 
sustainable consumption. The programme sets out action 
in  six  areas  to  help  Germany  achieve  its  sustainable 
consumption  objectives.  Also,  a  national  network  for 
sustainable consumption has been set up.  

to 

quick 

implement  Directive 
to 
Germany  was 
(EU) 2015/7206 through  an  agreement  with  the  retail 
sector  to  charge  for  plastic  bags.  Initial  results  are 
impressive:  in  2017,  consumption  fell  by  a  third,  to 
25 bags per person.  

to  behave 

The number of EU Ecolabel products and EMAS-licensed 
organisations  (EMAS 
is  the  European  Commission’s 
Eco-Management  and  Audit  Scheme  –  a  programme  to 
in  a  more 
encourage  organisations 
environmentally sustainable way) in a country can give a 
rough  measurement  of  the  circular  economy  transition. 
These two indicators show to what extent the transition 
is  engaging  the  private  sector  and  other  national 
stakeholders.  These  two 
indicators  also  show  the 
commitment of public authorities to policies that support 
the circular economy.  In September  2018, Germany had 
4441  products  and  321  licences  registered  in  the  EU 
Ecolabel  scheme,  of  a total of  71707  prodcuts  and 2167 
licences in the EU (putting it fourth after Spain, Italy and 
France when it comes to registered products)7. Currently, 
there are more than 100 different ecolabels in Germany, 
according  to  the  Ecolabel  Index 8 .  As  of  May  2018, 
Germany  was  the  Member  State  with  the  highest 

4 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany 2016, Deutsches 
Ressourceneffizienzprogramm (ProgRess II). 
5 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany 2016, Nationales Programm für 
nachhaltigen Konsum. 
6 Directive (EU) 2015/720. 
7 European Commission, Ecolabel facts and figures. 
8 Big Room Inc., Ecolabel Index 

 
 
                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

number  of  organisations  registered  in  EMAS,  with  1 237 
entries. 
As  regards  resource  productivity9 (how  efficiently  the 
economy  uses  material  resources  to  produce  wealth), 
Germany  remains  in  the  mid-range  of  Member  States 
(EUR 2.27/kg,  against  an  EU  average  of  EUR 2.04/kg). 
Figure 1  shows  a  steady  increase  between  2010  and 
2017.  
Figure 1: Resource productivity 2010-201710 

of  finance  and  consultancy.  Public-sector  assistance 
shows the steepest increase (+13 %). 
Figure 2: Environmental performance of SMEs12 

SMEs and resource efficiency 

German  SMEs  continue  to  score  around  the  EU  average 
in the environmental dimension of the Small Business Act 
(see  Figure 2).  An  above-average  number  offer  green 
products or services and the proportion that have taken 
resource-efficiency  measures  is  above  average.  Public 
support is easily accessible.  

The  latest  Eurobarometer  on  ‘SMEs,  resource  efficiency 
and green markets’11 asked companies about both recent 
resource-efficiency actions they had taken and additional 
resource-efficiency  actions  they  planned  to  take  in  the 
next  2  years.  The  Eurobarometer  then  compared  these 
responses with responses given to the same questions in 
2015.  A  steep  rise  in  the  number  of  investing  firms 
indicates  that  German  SMEs  are  catching  up  when  it 
comes  to  using  the  opportunities  of  resource  efficiency. 
In  all, 38 %  of German companies  (as compared  with  an 
EU  average  of  22 %)  relied  on  external  support  in  their 
efforts  to  be  more  resource  efficient.  Germany  stands 
out  for  the  balance  between  public  and  private  sources 

9 Resource productivity is defined as the ratio between gross domestic 
product (GDP) and domestic material consumption (DMC). 
10 Eurostat, Resource productivity. 
11 Flash Eurobarometer 456, SME, resource efficiency and green 
markets, January 2018. The eight areas covered were ‘save energy’, 
‘minimise waste’, ‘save materials’, ‘save water, ‘recycle by reusing 
material internally’, ‘design products easier to maintain, repair or 
reuse’, ‘use renewable energy’ and ‘sell scrap materials to another 
company’.  

Enterprises  rely  little  on  private-sector  consultants  and 
much  more  on  the  public  administration  and  business 
associations. This makes the latter largely responsible for 
developing  the  next  generation  of  support  instruments 
for  more  advanced  aspects  of  the  circular  economy. 
Companies’  openness  to  cooperating  with  external 
partners is a strength in this respect.  

Eco-innovation 

in 

improving 

terms  of 

In  2018,  Germany  ranked  seventh  on  the  European 
Innovation Scoreboard and was the eighth worst Member 
State 
its  performance 
(1.3 percentage points decrease since 2010 in relation to 
EU  average.) 13    However,  the  picture  is  brighter  as 
regards eco-innovation: Germany ranks third in the 2017 
Eco-innovation  index  (see  Figure  3)  and  its  performance 
has been well above the EU average since 2010. 

The key drivers of Germany’s environment policy provide 
impetus for eco-innovation in the country. Its population 
is highly receptive to environment-friendly consumption, 
its  dependency  on  imported  resources  drives  efforts  to 
better  use  secondary  resources,  and 
in 
extensive inter- and trans-disciplinary research relating to 
social-ecological challenges. 

it  engages 

12 European Commission, 2018 SBA fact sheet - Germany, p. 15. 
13 European Commission, European Innovation Scoreboard 2018. 

5 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Figure 3: 2017 Eco-innovation index (EU=100)14 

Waste management  

Turning waste into a resource is supported by: 
(i)  fully 
legislation,  which 
implementing  EU  waste 
includes  the  waste  hierarchy,  the  need  to  ensure 
separate  collection  of  waste,  the 
landfill  diversion 
targets, etc.; 
(ii) reducing waste generation and waste generation per 
capita in absolute terms; and  
(iii)  limiting  energy  recovery  to  non-recyclable  materials 
and  phasing  out  landfilling  of  recyclable  or  recoverable 
waste. 

This  section  focuses  on  management  of  municipal 
waste 15  for  which  EU  law  sets  mandatory  recycling 
targets16. 

Germany  is  among  the  top  performers  in  the  EU  with 
regard  to  waste  management.  As  shown  in  Figure 5, 
municipal  waste  generation  has  remained  stable  for  the 
last  five  years  (633 kg  per  capita  in  2017),  but  is  above 
the EU average17 (487 kg/y per capita).  

Figure  5:  Municipal  waste  by  treatment  in  Germany 
2010-201718 

Germany’s  Eco-innovation  action  plan  (Eco-AP)  is  still 
under development. In 2013, it decided to work towards 
an eco-AP as a national contribution to the EU Eco-AP. A 
research project was conducted between 2014 and 2016 
to  develop  the  basis  of  the  national  plan.  In  2017,  a 
second  call  was  issued,  for  a  three-year  project  to 
develop  the  plan  further  in  eight  areas  and  recommend 
specific goals and measures. 

Figure 4: Germany’s Eco-innovation performance 

Germany could make further progress on eco-innovation 
by  going  beyond  technical  solutions  and  promoting 
innovation  processes  that  connect  production  and 
consumption  systems.  Its  current  focus  on  traditional 
RTD  policies  and  monitoring  should  be  broadened  to 
meet  this  challenge.  This  would  involve  extending  the 
scope  of  eco-innovation  policies  and  ensuring  better 
coordination between sectors and policy areas.  

2019 priority action 

  Further strengthen the existing circular economy policy 

framework. 

14 Eco-innovation Observatory, Eco-innovation Scoreboard 2017. 

Figure  5  shows  that  recycling  is  the  most  common 
treatment  in  Germany  and  that  recycling,  composting 

15 Municipal waste consists of mixed waste and separately collected 
waste from households and from other sources, where such waste is 
similar in nature and composition to waste from households. This is 
without prejudice to the allocation of responsibilities for waste 
management between public and private sectors. 
16 See Article 11.2 of Directive 2008/98/EC. This Directive was amended 
in 2018 by Directive (EU) 2018/851, and more ambitious recycling 
targets were introduced for the period up to 2035. 
17 In the EIR, we refer to the data that Member States report annually to 
ESTAT on the basis of the joint questionnaire; this provides for a 
common base line. 
18 Eurostat, Municipal waste by waste operations. 

6 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

and  landfilling  levels  have  remained  stable  in  recent 
years.  

Germany  recycles  a  lot  of  its  municipal  solid  waste 
(68 %).  The  incineration  rate  (including  energy  recovery) 
stands  at  31 %.  Landfilling  is  practically  non-existent 
(1 %), as measures were taken in 2005 to effectively ban 
the landfilling of waste with a high calorific value. 

Germany  has  already  reached  the  EU  2020  recycling 
target of 50 %19 and is well above the EU average of 45 % 
(see Figure 6). However, more effort will be needed if it is 
to  comply  with  the  post-2020  recycling  targets, 
in 
particular for incineration20. 
Figure 6: Recycling rate of municipal waste 2010-201721 

Climate change  

The EU has committed to undertaking ambitious climate 
action internationally as well as in the EU, having ratified 
the Paris Climate Agreement on 4 October 2016. The EU 
targets are to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 
20 % by 2020 and by at least 40 % by 2030, compared to 
1990.  As  a  long-term  target,  the  EU  aims  to  reduce  its 
emissions  by  80-95 %  by  2050,  as  part  of  the  efforts 
required by developed countries as a group. Adapting to 
the adverse effects of climate change is vital to alleviate 
its  already  visible  effects  and  improve  preparedness  for 
and resilience to future impacts. 

The EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) covers all large 
greenhouse  gas  emitters  in  the  industry,  power  and 
aviation  sectors  in  the  EU.  The  EU  ETS  applies  in  all 
Member States and has a very high compliance rate. Each 
year,  installations  cover  around  99 %  of  their  emissions 
with the required number of allowances.  

Figure  7:  Change  in  total  GHG  emissions,  1990-2017 
(1990=100 %)22 

incentive 

Germany’s 
to  promote  waste 
systems 
prevention  and  participation  in  separate  collection  (‘pay 
as  you  throw’  (PAYT)  schemes)  are  highly  efficient. 
Extended  producer  responsibility  (EPR)  systems  are  in 
place for different waste streams. 

2019 priority actions 

  Introduce  new  policy  instruments,  including  economic 
instruments,  to  promote  prevention,  make  reuse  and 
recycling more economically attractive. 

  Shift  reusable  and  recyclable  waste  away 

from 

incineration. 

19 Member States may choose a method other than that 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. 
20 Directive (EU) 2018/851, Directive (EU) 2018/852, Directive (EU) 
2018/850 and Directive (EU) 2018/849 amend the previous waste 
legislation and set more ambitious recycling targets for the period to 
2035. These targets will be taken into consideration to assess progress 
in future Environmental Implementation Reports. 
21 Eurostat, Recycling rate of municipal waste.  

For emissions not covered by the EU ETS, Member States 
have  binding  national  targets  under  the  effort-sharing 
legislation.  Germany’s  emissions  were  lower  than  its 
annual  emission  allocations  (AEAs)  each  year  from  2013 
to 2015, but slightly higher in 2016, requiring the use of 
flexibilities  to  ensure  compliance  with  its  obligations 
under  the  Effort-Sharing  Decision  (ESD).  In  2017,  ESD 

22 Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2016 (EEA 
greenhouse gas data viewer). Proxy GHG emission estimates for 
2017Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory 2017 (European 
Environment Agency). Member States national projections, reviewed by 
the European Environment Agency. 

7 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

emissions exceeded the annual emission allocations by 7 
percentage points (figure 8). For 2020, its national target 
under  the  EU  Effort  Sharing  Decision  is  to  reduce 
emissions by 14 % from 2005 levels. Its 2030 target under 
the  Effort-Sharing  Regulation  is  a  38 %  reduction  as 
compared with 2005.  

In November 2016, the German cabinet adopted a well- 
elaborated climate action plan, with overall and sectoral 
objectives  for  2030  and  2050  in  line  with  the  Paris 
Agreement.  For  each  sector  (energy  supply,  buildings, 
mobility, industry and business, agriculture, land use and 
for  2050, 
it  provides  guiding  principles 
forestry), 
transformation  pathways,  milestones  and  strategic 
measures.  It  is  subject  to  regular  review  and  updates 
through  scientific  input  and  public  dialogue,  and  annual 
evaluation and monitoring, followed by a progress report 
(climate action report) to the Bundestag.  

Figure 8: Targets and emissions for Germany under the 
Effort-Sharing  Decision  and  Effort-Sharing  Regulation  – 
Germany23 

Germany  has  submitted  a  draft  national  energy  and 
climate  plan  (NECP)  under  the  Regulation  on  the 
Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action.  

Transport accounts for almost a quarter of the EU’s GHG 
emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities. 
Transport  emissions  in  Germany  increased  by  8 %  from 
2012 to 2016.  

Under  the  F-gas  regulation,  Member  States  must 
implement  training  and  certification  programmes  and 
rules  for  penalties  and  notify  these  measures  to  the 

Commission  by  2017.  Germany  has  notified 
Commission of its measures in both these areas.  

the 

Figure  9:  GHG  emissions  by  sector  (Mt. CO2-eq.)  
(historical data 1990-2016; projections 2017-2030)24 

Under  the  F-gas  regulation,  Member  States  must 
implement  training  and  certification  programmes  and 
rules  for  penalties  and  notify  these  measures  to  the 
Commission  by  2017.  Germany  has  notified 
the 
Commission of its measures in both these areas.  

The  Kyoto  Protocol  governs  the  accounting  of  GHG 
emissions  and  removals  from  forests  and  agriculture. 
Preliminary accounting for 2013-2016 depicts net credits 
of,  on  average,  -38.7  Mt  CO2-eq,  which  corresponds  to 
33.2% of the EU-28 accounted sink of -115.7 Mt CO2-eq. 

The  EU  strategy  on  adaptation  to  climate  change, 
adopted in 2013, aims to make the EU more resilient to 
climate  change  by  promoting  action  by  Member  States, 
better-informed  decision-making  and  adaptation  in  key 
vulnerable sectors. By adopting a coherent approach and 
providing for improved coordination, it seeks to enhance 
preparedness  and  capacity  of  all  governance  levels  to 
respond to the impacts of climate change.  

In 2008, Germany adopted a national adaptation strategy 
(Deutsche  Anpassungsstrategie,  DAS),  which  presents  a 
sectoral  and  geographical  overview  of  the  effects  of 
climate  change.  In  2011,  it  adopted  an  action  plan 
(Aktionsplan 
Deutschen 
Anpassungsstrategie, APA) operationalising the action set 
out  in  the  DAS.  The  APA  follows  a  sectoral  approach 
based  on  the  following  key  sectors:  human  health, 
buildings, water regime, water management, coastal and 
marine  protection,  soil,  biological  diversity,  agriculture, 

Anpassung 

der 

23 Proxy GHG emission estimates for 2017Approximated EU greenhouse 
gas inventory 2017 (European Environment Agency). Member States 
national projections, reviewed by the European Environment Agency. 

24 Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2016 (EEA 
greenhouse gas data viewer). Proxy GHG emission estimates for 
2017Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory 2017 (European 
Environment Agency). Member States national projections, reviewed by 
the European Environment Agency. 

8 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

financial  services 

forest  management, 

fisheries,  energy 
forestry  and 
industry, 
industry,  transport  and 
transport infrastructure, trade and industry, and tourism. 
Germany produced a first monitoring report was in 2015 
and further reports are planned every four years. 

Total  revenues  from  the  auctioning  of  EU  ETS  emission 
allowances in 2013-2017 came to EUR 4 648 million, all of 
which was spent on climate and energy measures.  

2019 priority action 

In this report, no priority actions have been included on 
climate action, as the Commission will first need to assess 
the  draft  national  energy  and  climate  plans  which  the 
Member States had to send by end of 2018. These plans 
should  increase  the  consistency  between  energy  and 
climate  policies  and  could  therefore  become  a  good 
example  of  how  to  link  sector-specific  policies  on  other 
interlinked  themes  such  as  agriculture-nature-water  and 
transport-air-health.  

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

2. 

Protecting, conserving and enhancing natural capital 

Nature and biodiversity  

in  the  EU  by  2020. 

The  EU  biodiversity  strategy  aims  to  halt  the  loss  of 
biodiversity 
full 
implementation  of  the  Birds  and  Habitats  Directives  to 
achieve  favourable  conservation  status  of  protected 
species and habitats. It also requires that the agricultural 
and  forest  sectors  help  to  maintain  and 
improve 
biodiversity. 

It  requires 

Biodiversity strategy 

In  2015,  Germany  prepared  its  Nature  conservation 
action  programme  2020 25  to  give  fresh 
impetus  to 
implementation  of  the  2007  national  strategy  on 
biological  diversity26 and  address  a  persistent  negative 
trend  in  biodiversity  due  to  failure  to  implement  key 
policy changes. 

Setting-up a coherent network of Natura 2000 sites 

The Birds and Habitats Directives require Member States 
to establish a coherent national network of Natura 2000 
sites.  The  Commission  assesses  compliance  with  this 
requirement  individually  for  each  species  and  habitat 
type  occurring  on  the  national  territory  of  the  Member 
States.  The  latest update  of this assessment  was carried 
out  by  the  Commission  with  the  assistance  of  the 
European Environment Agency (EEA). On the basis of this 
latest update, Germany’s terrestrial Natura 2000 network 
under the Birds and Habitats Directives is now considered 
to be complete.  

By  end-2017,  the  network  covered  15.5 %  of  Germany’s 
land  area  (EU  average:  18.2 %),  with  Special  Protection 
Areas  (SPAs)  under  the  Birds  Directive  amounting  to 
11.3 %  (EU  average:  12.4 %)  and  Sites  of  Community 

25 Germany, Nature conservation action programme 2020. 
26 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany 2007, Nationale Strategie zur 
biologischen Vielfalt.  

10 

Interest  (SCIs)  under  the  Habitats  Directive  9.4 %  (EU 
average: 13.9 %). 

The latest assessment of the Natura 2000 network shows 
that there are minor insufficiencies in SCI designation for 
the  terrestrial  component  of  the  network  in  a  limited 
number of Länder27.  

Designating  Natura  2000  sites  and setting  conservation 
objectives and measures 

By the end of 2017, Germany had designated only 79.4 % 
of  its  SCIs  as  special  areas  of  conservation (SACs)  within 
the meaning of Article 4(4) of the Habitats Directive and 
established  conservation  objectives  and  management 
measures 
in  order  to  achieve  or  maintain  good 
conservation status within the meaning of Article 6(1) in 
only 69.3 % of the SACs. These failings are the subject of 
an infringement procedure. 

Nature  protection 
the 
in  Germany 
competence of the 16 Länder and the federal authorities 
(Bund) are responsible for the exclusive economic zone. 

falls  within 

The main pressures come from agriculture in the form of 
changes of  agricultural practices and  intensification.  The 
agricultural  sector  benefits  from  exemptions  from  many 
nature protection regulations28.  

Progress 
restoring 
in  maintaining  or 
conservation status of species and habitats 

favourable 

The  2017  EIR  referred  to  the  Member  States’  latest 
report, from 2012, on the conservation status of habitats 
and species; new data will be available for the next EIR.  

Overall,  it  is  acknowledged  that  improvements  in  the 
status  of  species  and  habitats  have  been  reported  in 
Germany  recently,  but  that  efforts  still  need  to  be 
stepped  up  to  reverse  the  documented  declines  of 
species and habitats that depend on agricultural habitats, 
many  of  which  are  affected  by  land-use  changes  and 
excessive nitrogen emissions. 

27 For each Member State, the Commission assesses whether the 
species and habitat types in Annexes I and II to the Habitats Directive 
are sufficiently represented by the sites designated to 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 where 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 until December 2013. 
28 For example, ‘good agricultural land use’ and ‘good farming practice’ 
activities are exempted from national nature protection provisions in 
the Länder. 

 
 
                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

There  are  positive  examples  of  Natura  2000  being 
promoted  in  some  Länder,  e.g. the  Natura  2000  award 
for  municipalities  in  Bavaria,  as  developed  in  the  course 
of  an  EU-LIFE  project,  On  the  other  hand,  country 
dwellers  in  most  regions  do  not  recognise  Natura  2000 
areas, as they are not always marked as such.  

adopted  in  201732,  takes  a  spatial,  integrated  approach 
that  helps  to  incorporate  existing  nature  conservation 
and  landscape  management  practice  and  models  into 
national  planning  processes, 
floodplain 
development,  national  road  planning,  defragmentation 
and expansion of ecological networks.  

such  as 

2019 priority actions 

  Complete the Natura 2000 designation process, 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 

approaches, 

smart  and 
in 

streamlined 
for 
implementation 
appropriate  assessment  procedures  and  species 
permitting  procedures,  ensuring 
the  necessary 
knowledge  and  data  availability  and  strengthen 
communication with stakeholders. 

particular 

  Ensure  that  pressures from  agriculture  are  adequately 
addressed  and  that  the  sector  complies  fully  with 
nature protection law.  

Maintaining  and  restoring  ecosystems  and 
their services 

The EU biodiversity strategy aims to maintain and restore 
ecosystems  and  their  services  by 
including  green 
infrastructure  in  spatial  planning  and  restoring  at  least 
15 %  of  degraded  ecosystems  by  2020.  The  EU  green 
infrastructure  strategy  promotes  the  incorporation  of 
green infrastructure into related plans and programmes. 

The EU has provided guidance on the further deployment 
of  green  and  blue  infrastructure  in  Germany29 and  a 
country page on the Biodiversity Information System for 
Europe  (BISE)30.  This  information  will  also  contribute  to 
the  final  evaluation  of  the  EU  Biodiversity  Strategy  to 
2020. 

the 

In  Germany,  green  infrastructure  (GI)  is  implemented 
through 
Federal  Nature  Conservation  Act 
(Bundesnaturschutzgesetz31, which regulates the national 
ecological  network  (covering  at  least  10 %  of  German 
territory),  and  other  strategies  and  programmes 
in 
sectors  such  as  landscape  planning.  The  national  GI 
Infrastruktur  (BKGI)), 
strategy  (Bundeskonzept  Grüne 

29 European Commission, The recommendations of the green 
infrastructure strategy review report and the EU Guidance on a 
strategic framework for further supporting the deployment of EU-level 
green and blue infrastructure. 
30 Biodiversity Information System for Europe. 
31 Germany, The Federal Nature Conservation Act. 

transport  policy, 

GI  is  integrated  in  several  policy  areas  –  mainly  flood 
lesser  degree) 
protection,  urban  policy  and  (to  a 
agriculture,  where  more  could  be  done,  given  the 
significant  pressure  of  farming  on  ecosystems.  GI 
elements  can  also  be  found  in  the  2020  forest  strategy, 
which uses forest multifunctionality as a guiding concept. 
As 
the  defragmentation 
regards 
programme 
(Bundesprogramm  Wiedervernetzung) 
ensures  that  the  construction  of  new  roads  includes 
green  bridges  and/or  underpasses.  Specific  strategies 
that  are  still  in  development  and  will  be  gradually  fed 
into  the  BKGI  relate  inter  alia  to  landscapes  of  national 
importance for natural and cultural heritage, and include 
the  national  Blaues  Band  programme 
the 
renaturation  of  rivers,  and  the  national  action  plan 
conservation areas.  

for 

Funding  for  GI  comes  from  the  EU,  but  also  from  the 
Federal  Government,  the  Länder,  municipalities  and  the 
private sector. An analysis in May 2017 showed that the 
European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development 
the  most 
(EAFRD) 
for  nature 
is 
in  Germany,  followed  by  federal  and 
conservation 
regional funds33. It also demonstrated that a considerable 
financing  gap  threatens  Germany’s  achievement  of  its 
nature conservation goals. 

important 

fund 

The  BioCorridors  project  is  a  transborder  GI  project 
supported  by  the  LIFE  programme.  It  aims  to  secure 
ecological  continuity  and  conserve  biodiversity  in  the 
Vosges  du  Nord-Pfälzerwald  transboundary  biosphere 
reserve  on  the  French-German  border.  The  reserve 
covers  3 105 km2  and  comprises  forest  ecosystems, 
agricultural 
transboundary 
watercourses. The project focuses on restoring ecological 
corridors as a means to safeguard biodiversity in forests, 
water and open environments. 

important 

areas 

and 

32 Germany, The national green infrastructure strategy. 
33 Biodiversity Information System for Europe, Green Infrastructure in 
Germany. 

11 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

  water hyacinth and coati (a mammal related to the 

raccoon) have been eradicated; 

  measures  are  under  way  for  cabomba  (an  exotic 
water  plant),  Asian  hornet  and  ruddy  duck  (one 
detection); and 

  measures  still  need  to  be  notified  for  ruddy  duck 

(two detections) and muntjac deer.  

Figure  11:  Number  of  invasive  alien  species  of  EU 
concern, based on available georeferenced information 
for Germany36 

Estimating natural capital 

The  EU  biodiversity  strategy  calls  on  Member  States  to 
map  and  assess  the  state  of  ecosystems  and  their 
services34 in their national territories by 2014, assess the 
economic  value  of  such  services  and  integrate  these 
values  into  accounting  and  reporting  systems  at  EU  and 
national level by 2020. 

At  the  MAES  (mapping  and  assessment  of  ecosystems 
and  their  services)  working  group  meeting  held 
in 
Brussels in September 2018, it was shown that Germany 
in 
has  made  some  progress  since 
implementing  MAES  (Figure 10).  This  assessment  was 
made  by  the  ESMERALDA  project35 and  based  on  27 
implementation  questions.  The  assessment  is  updated 
every 6 months. 

January  2016 

Figure 
(September 2018) 

10: 

Implementation 

of 

MAES 

Invasive alien species 

2019 priority action 

Under  the  EU  biodiversity  strategy,  the  following  are  to 
be achieved by 2020:  
(i) invasive alien species identified;  
(ii) priority species controlled or eradicated; and  
(iii)  pathways  managed  to  prevent  new  invasive  species 
from disrupting European biodiversity.  
This  is  supported  by  the  Invasive  Alien  Species  (IAS) 
Regulation, which entered into force on 1 January 2015. 

The  report  on  the  baseline  distribution  of  invasive  alien 
species  (Figure  11),  for  which  Germany  is  still  reviewing 
its country- and grid-level data, shows that 25 of the 37 
species  on  the  first  Union  list  have  been  observed  in 
Germany.  The  most  widely  distributed  is  the  raccoon 
(Procyon  lotor),  which  is  spreading  into  neighbouring 
countries. 

Of  the  species  that  were  subject  to  early  detections 
reported by Germany: 

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

  Germany  should  notify  the  planned  eradication 
measures  for  ruddy  duck  (two  notifications)  and 
muntjac deer. 

Soil protection  

The  EU  soil  thematic  strategy  underlines  the  need  to 
ensure a sustainable use of soils. This entails preventing 
further  soil  degradation  and  preserving  its  functions,  as 
well as restoring degraded soils. The 2011 Roadmap to a 
Resource Efficient Europe states that by 2020, EU policies 
must  take  into  account  their  direct  and  indirect  impact 
on land use. 

Soil  is  a  finite  and  extremely  fragile  resource,  but  it  is 
increasingly being degraded in the EU. 
The  percentage  of  artificial  land  cover37 (Figure  12)  can 
be seen as a measure of the relative pressure on nature 

36 Tsiamis K., Gervasini E., Deriu I., D`amico F., Nunes A., Addamo A., De 
Jesus Cardoso A., Baseline distribution of invasive alien species of Union 
concern, Ispra (Italy): Publications Office of the European Union; 2017, 
EUR 28596 EN, doi:10.2760/772692. 
37 Artifical land cover is defined as the total of roofed built-up areas 
(including buildings and greenhouses), artificial non-built-up areas 

12 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

and  biodiversity,  and  of  environmental  pressure  on 
people  living  in  urbanised  areas.  In  its  sustainability 
strategy,  (Deutsche  Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie)  Germany 
set itself the target of restricting daily landtake to 30 ha 
by 2020. While the landtake rate is falling, it was unlikely 
that  the  target  would  be  achieved,  so  the  timescale  has 
been extended to 203038.  
Figure 12: Proportion of artificial land cover, 2015 (%)39 

Germany  ranks  above  the  EU  average  as  regards  the 
proportion  of  artificial  land  cover  (7.3 %,  as  compared 
with 4.1 %). The population density is 233.1/km2, which is 
also above the EU average (118/km2)40. 

More  than  half  of  Germany’s  surface  area  is  used  for 
agriculture.  

Contamination  can  severely  reduce  soil  quality  and 
threaten  human  health  or  the  environment.  A  recent 

(including sealed area features, such as yards, farmyards, cemeteries, 
car parking areas, etc. and linear features, such as streets, roads, 
railways, runways, bridges) and other artificial areas (including bridges 
and viaducts, mobile homes, solar panels, power plants, electrical 
substations, pipelines, water sewage plants, and open dump sites). 
38 Umweltbundesamt, Siedlungs- und Verkehrsfläche. 
39 Eurostat, Land covered by artificial surfaces by NUTS 2 region.  
40 Eurostat, Population density by NUTS 3 region. 

13 

report  of  the  European  Commission 41 estimated  that 
potentially  polluting  activities  have  taken  or  are  still 
taking place on approximately 2.8 million sites in the EU. 
At EU  level, 650 000  of  these  sites have been  registered 
in national or regional inventories. 65 500 contaminated 
sites  already  have  been  remediated.  Germany  has 
registered  260 883  sites  where  potentially  polluting 
activities have taken or are taking place, and already has 
remediated  or  applied  aftercare  measures  on  38 242 
sites. 

Soil erosion by water is a natural process, but this natural 
process can be aggravated by climate change and human 
activities  such  as  inappropriate  agricultural  practices, 
deforestation,  forest  fires  or  construction  works.  High 
levels  of  soil  erosion  can  reduce  productivity 
in 
agriculture  and  can  have  negative  and  transboundary 
impacts  on  biodiversity  and  ecosystem  services,  as  well 
as  on  rivers  and  lakes  (due  to  increased  sediment 
volumes  and  transport  of  contaminants).  According  to 
the  RUSLE2015  model42,  Germany  has  an  average  soil 
loss  rate  by  water  of  1.25 t/ha  per  year  (t ha−a yr−y),  as 
compared  with  a  European  mean  of  2.46 t ha−a yr−y, 
which indicates that soil erosion is low on average43.  

Marine protection 

EU coastal and marine policy and legislation require that 
by  2020  the  impact  of  pressures  on  marine  waters  be 
reduced  to  achieve  or  maintain  good  environmental 
status (GES) and ensure that coastal zones are managed 
sustainably. 

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)44 aims 
to achieve good environmental status of the EU’s marine 
waters  by  2020.  To  that  end,  Member  States  must 
develop  a  marine  strategy  for  their  marine  waters,  and 

41 Ana Paya Perez, Natalia Rodriguez Eugenio (2018), Status of local soil 
contamination in Europe: Revision of the indicator “Progress in the 
management Contaminated Sites in Europe”. 
42 Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Poesen, J., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., 
Meusburger, K., Montanarella, L., Alewell, C., ‘The new assessment of 
soil loss by water erosion in Europe’, Environmental Science and 
Policy 54 (2015), pp. 438-447. 
43 These figures are the output from a model based on rainfall, support 
practices, land cover, soil and slope characteristics, and therefore 
should not be considered as values measured in-field. The actual soil 
loss rate can vary strongly within a Member State, depending on local 
conditions. Soil organic matter plays an important role in the carbon 
cycle and in climate change. Soils are the second largest carbon sink in 
the world after the oceans. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important 
indicator of soil health and biodiversity, and it provides nutrients for 
plants and improves water availability. The main anthropogenic driving 
forces for a decline of SOC are land-use change (especially conversion 
from grassland into cropland, and deforestation), drainage and loss of 
wetlands, and poor agricultural practices. A loss of soil organic matter 
can increase the risk of erosion and lead to a decline in soil structure 
and quality. 
44 Directive 2008/56/EC. 

 
                                                                                                        
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

cooperate  with  the  EU  countries  that  share  the  same 
marine (sub)region. 

Member  States  have  to  develop  a  strategy  for  their 
marine  waters,  and  cooperate  with  those  countries that 
share the same marine (sub)region. 

For  Germany,  the  Convention  for  the  protection  of  the 
marine  environment  of  the  North-East  Atlantic  (OSPAR 
the  Baltic  Marine  Environment 
Convention)  and 
Protection  Commission  (Helsinki  Commission)  make  an 
important contribution in this respect.  

Under the marine strategies, Member States had to draw 
up  programmes  of  measures  and  report  them  to  the 
Commission  by  31  March  2016.  The  Commission  then 
assessed  whether  the  measures  were  appropriate  for 
achieving good environmental status (GES)45. 

Germany drew up an extensive programme of measures 
covering  all  aspects  of  the  marine  environment. Overall, 
it  is  considered  to  partially  address  the  requirements  of 
the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)46. 

The  measures  address  most  relevant  pressures  and 
targets.  For  example,  macro-  and  micro-marine  litter  is 
tackled  through  measures  targeting  shipping,  fisheries, 
industry and tourism. Offshore activities in the North Sea 
are  also  targeted.  Other  measures  address  heat  and  set 
legal limits for noise.  

Some  aspects,  such  as  seabed  habitats,  water  column 
habitats and timelines, are partially addressed.  

2019 priority actions 

  Determine  timelines  for  achieving  GES,  where  these 

have not been reported. 

  Provide  more  information  about  measures,  establish 
more  measures  that  have  a  direct  impact  on  the 
pressures  and  quantify  the  expected  reduction  of  the 
pressure as a result.  

  Strengthen  regional  cooperation  with  Member  States 
sharing  the  same  marine  region  to  address  the  main 
pressures. 

45Commission Report assessing Member States’ programme of 
measures under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 
(COM(2018)562). 
46 Directive 2008/56/EC. 

14 

 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

3. 

Ensuring citizens' health and quality of life 

According to a special report from the European Court of 
Auditors54 EU  action  to  protect  human  health  from  air 
pollution has not had its expected impact. There is a risk 
that  air  pollution  is  being  underestimated  in  some 
instances because it may not always be monitored in the 
right  places.  Member  States  are  now  required  to  report 
both  real-time  and  validated  air  quality  data  to  the 
Commission55. 

Figure  13:  PM2.5  and  NOx  emissions  by  sector  in 
Germany 56 

Air quality  

EU clean air policy and legislation require the significant 
improvement  of  air  quality  in  the  EU,  moving  the  EU 
closer to the quality recommended by the World Health 
Organisation.  Air  pollution  and  its  impacts  on  human 
health,  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  EU  air  quality  legislation  and 
defining strategic targets and actions beyond 2020. 

The  EU  has  developed  a  comprehensive  body  of  air 
legislation 47 ,  which  establishes  health-based 
quality 
standards and objectives for a number of air pollutants. 

Emissions  of  several  air  pollutants  have  decreased 
in  Germany 48 .  The  reductions  achieved 
significantly 
between 1990  and  2014  (see  previous EIR)  continued  in 
2014-2016,  with emissions of sulphur oxides (SOx) down 
by  0.86 %,  nitrogen  oxides  (NOx)  by  3.66 %  and  fine 
particulate  matter  (PM2.5) 49  by  2.97 %.  Meanwhile, 
emissions  of  non-methane  volatile  organic  compounds 
(NMVOCs) 
increased  by  2.25 %  and  emissions  of 
ammonia  (NH3)  by  0.15 %  (see  also  Figure  13  on  total 
PM2.5 and NOx emissions by sector). 

Despite  the  reductions,  additional  efforts  are  needed  to 
meet  the  reduction  commitments  (compared  with  2005 
levels)  laid  down  in  the  new  National  Emissions  Ceilings 
Directive50 for 2020-2029 and any year from 2030. 

Air quality in Germany continues to give cause for severe 
concern. For 2015, the EEA estimated that about 62 300 
fine  PM 
premature  deaths  were  attributable 
concentrations, 3 000 to ozone51 concentration and over 
13 000 to nitrogen dioxide (NO2)52 concentrations53.  

to 

47 European Commission, Air Quality Standards, 2016. 
48 See EIONET Central Data Repository and Air pollutant emissions data 
viewer (NEC Directive). 
49 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). 
50 Directive 2016/2284/EU. 
51 Low ground-level ozone is produced by photochemical action on air 
pollutants. 
52 NOx is emitted during fuel combustion, e.g. from industrial facilities 
and road transport. It is a group of gases comprising nitrogen monoxide 
(NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). 
53 EEA, Air Quality in Europe – 2018 Report, p.64. See report for 
methodological details. 

For  2017,  exceedances  related  to  the  annual  limit  value 
for  nitrogen  dioxide  (NO2)  in  35  (out  of  89)  air  quality 
zones  (including  in  Munich,  Stuttgart,  and  Cologne). 

54 European Court of Auditors, Special report no 23/2018: Air pollution - 
our health still insufficiently protected. 
55 Article 5 of Commission Implementing Decision 2011/850/EU of 12 
December 2011 laying down rules for Directives 2004/107/EC and 
2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards 
the reciprocal exchange of information and reporting on ambient air 
quality (OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, p. 86). 
56 2016 NECD data submitted by Member State to the EEA. 

15 

 
                                                                 
 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Exceedances  have  also  been  registered  related  to 
particulate matter (PM10) in 1 (out of 86) air quality zones 
(Stuttgart).  Furthermore,  the  target  values  regarding 
ozone  concentrations  are  not  being  met 
in  some 
instances57.   Figure  14  shows  the  number  of  air  quality 
zones with excessive levels of NO2, PM2.5 and PM10. 

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

  Reduce  emissions  of  volatile  organic  compounds 

(VOC). 

Figure  14:  Air  quality  zones  exceeding  EU  air  quality 
standards in 201758 

Industrial emissions 

The  main  objectives  of EU policy on  industrial emissions 
are to: 
(i) protect air, water and soil; 
(ii) prevent and manage waste; 
(iii) improve energy and resource efficiency; and  
(iv) clean up contaminated sites.  
To  achieve  this,  the  EU  takes  an  integrated  approach  to 
the  prevention  and  control  of  routine  and  accidental 
industrial emissions. The cornerstone of the policy is the 
Industrial Emissions Directive60 (IED). 

The  below  overview  of  industrial  activities  regulated  by 
the  IED  is  based  on  the  ‘industrial  emissions  policy 
country profiles’ project61. 

In  Germany,  around  8 900  industrial  installations  are 
required  to  have  a  permit  under  the  IED.  Industrial 
sectors  in  Germany  with  the  most  IED  installations  in 
2015  were 
intensive  poultry  or  pig  rearing  (25 %), 
chemicals  (18 %),  non-hazardous  waste  management 
(10 %) and hazardous waste management (9 %).  

Figure  15:  Number  of  IED  industrial  installations  by 
sector, Germany (2015)62 

The  sectors  identified  as  contributing  most  emissions  to 
air in Germany were:  

60 Directive 2010/75/EU covers industrial activities carried out above 
certain thresholds. It covers energy industry, metal production, mineral 
and chemical industry and waste management, as well as a wide range 
of industrial and agricultural sectors (e.g. intensive rearing of pig and 
poultry, pulp and paper production, painting and cleaning). 
61 European Commission, Industrial emissions policy country profile – 
Germany. 
62 European Commission, Industrial emissions policy country profile – 
Germany. 

The  Commission  is  following  up  the  persistent  breaches 
of  air  quality  requirements  (for  PM10  and  NO2),  which 
have  severe  negative  effects  on  health  and  the 
environment,  through  infringement  procedures  against 
all the Member States concerned, including Germany. As 
regards  NO2,  it  has  decided  to  refer  Germany  to  the 
European Court of Justice59. The aim is to have adequate 
measures put in place to bring all zones into compliance. 

The tax system can be used to implement clean air policy 
while  also  generating  revenue:  further  alignment  and 
equal  treatment  of  transport  fuels  (e.g. diesel)  would 
lead  to  environmental  improvements  and  incentives  to 
reduce NO2 pollution.  

2019 priority actions 

 

In  the  context  of  the  forthcoming  national  air 
pollution control programme (NAPCP), take action to 
reduce the main emission sources,  inter alia  through 
the priority actions below.  

  Accelerate  reductions  in  NOx  emissions  and  NO2 
concentrations; this will require, for example, further 
reductions  in  transport  emissions,  in  particular  in 
urban  areas  (and,  potentially,  proportionate  and 
targeted urban vehicle access restrictions). 

  Accelerate  reductions  in  PM2.5  and  PM10  emissions 
and  concentration;  this  will  require,  for  example, 
further 
from  energy 
generation  and  heat  generation  using  solid  fuels 
and/or promoting efficient and clean district heating. 

in  emissions 

reductions 

57 EEA, Eionet air quality portal and the related central data repository. 
58 EEA, EIONET Central Data Repository. Data reflects the reporting 
situation as of 26 November 2018. 
59 COM(2018) 330. 

16 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

  energy/power 
mercury (Hg));  

(SOx,  NOx,  arsenic 

(As)  and 

  energy  (refining,  gasification  and  liquefaction)  and 

 

 

coke (nickel (Ni)); 
lead  (Pb)  and 
iron  and  steel  (chromium  (Cr), 
polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated 
dibenzofurans (PCDD/F)); and  
‘other  activities’,  mostly  intensive  poultry  or  pig 
rearing  and  surface  treatment  (NMVOCs,  NH3, 
PM2.5,  cadmium  (Cd)  and  Pb).  The  breakdown  is 
shown in the graph below.  

Figure 16: Emissions to air from IED sectors and all other 
national total air emissions, Germany (2015) 

The  energy  refining,  gasification  and  liquefaction  and 
coke,  chemicals,  waste  management  sectors  and  ‘other 
activities’  were 
significant 
contributions  to  emissions  to  water,  and  the  waste 
management,  chemicals  and  metals  sectors  mainly 
contribute to hazardous waste generation.  

identified  as  making 

The enforcement approach under the IED creates strong 
rights for citizens to have access to relevant information 
and  to  participate  in  the  permitting  process  for  IED 
installations. This empowers citizens, and NGOs to ensure 
that  permits  are  appropriately  granted  and  their 
conditions respected.  

Best  available  techniques  (BAT)  reference  documents 
(BREFs)  and  BAT  conclusions  are  developed  through  the 
exchange  of 
information  between  Member  States, 
industrial  associations,  NGOs  and  the  Commission.  This 
ensures  a  good  collaboration  with  stakeholders  and  a 
better application of the IED rules. 

Thanks  to  the  national  competent  authorities’  efforts  to 
apply the legally binding BAT conclusions and associated 
BAT  emission  levels  in  environmental  permits,  pollution 
has decreased considerably and continuously in the EU.  

For  example,  by  applying  the  recently  adopted  BAT 
emission levels for large combustion plants, emissions of 
sulphur dioxide will be cut on average by between 25 % 

17 

and  81 %,  nitrogen  oxide  between  8 %  and  56 %,  dust 
between 31 % and 78 % and mercury between 19 % and 
71 % at the EU level. The extent of the reduction depends 
on the situation in individual plants. 

The  Commission  has  welcomed  the  good  cooperation 
with  the  administration  to  efficiently  resolve  issues  due 
to late implementation of the BAT conclusion prohibiting 
the  use  of  the  mercury  cell  technique  by  chlor-alkali 
plants by 11 December 2017. 

The challenges identified were emissions to air and water 
from intensive poultry and pig rearing. 

2019 priority actions 

  Review permits to comply with new BAT conclusions. 
  Strengthen  control  and/or  enforcement  to  ensure 

compliance with BAT conclusions. 

  Address emissions to air and water from the sector of 

intensive poultry and pig rearing.  

Noise 
The  Environmental  Noise  Directive 63  provides  for  a 
common  approach  to  avoiding,  preventing  and  reducing 
the harmful effects of exposure to environmental noise. 

Excessive noise from aircraft, railways and roads is one of 
the main causes of health problems in the EU64. In 2017, 
the EEA calculated (on the basis of a limited set of data65) 
that environmental noise causes at least 2 200 premature 
deaths  and  13 200  hospital  admissions  per  year  in 
Germany.  Noise  also  disturbs  the  sleep  of  roughly 
2 million  people.  Implementation  of  the  Environmental 
Noise  Directive  is  significantly  delayed.  On  the  basis  of 
the  latest  full  set  of  information  that  could  be  analysed 
(from  2012  for  noise  maps  and  2013  for  action  plans), 
Germany has complied with the Directive only in respect 
of  noise  mapping.  Despite  steady  progress,  it  has  yet  to 
produce  action  plans 
large  number  of 
agglomerations  (i.e. population  centres  or  places  of 
economic  activity)  and  major  airports,  roads  and 
railways.  

for  a 

These  instruments,  adopted  after  a  public  consultation 
had  been  carried  out,  should  include  the  measures  to 
keep noise low or reduce it.  

2019 priority action 

  Complete the action plans for noise management. 

63 Directive 2002/49/EC. 
64 WHO/JRC, 2011, Burden of disease from environmental noise, Fritschi, 
L., Brown, A.L., Kim, R., Schwela, D., Kephalopoulos, S. (eds), World 
Health Organisation, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark. 
65 EEA, Noise fact sheets 2017. 

 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Water quality and management 

EU  legislation  and  policy  requires  that  the  impact  of 
pressures  on  transitional,  coastal  and  fresh  waters 
(including  surface  and  ground  waters)  be  significantly 
reduced.  Achieving,  maintaining  or  enhancing  a  good 
status  of  water  bodies  as  defined  by  the  Water 
Framework Directive will ensure that EU citizens benefit 
from good quality and safe drinking and bathing water. It 
will  further  ensure  that  the  nutrient  cycle  (nitrogen  and 
phosphorus)  is  managed  in  a  more  sustainable  and 
resource-efficient way. 

operational  monitoring  sites 
transitional waters has fallen slightly. 

in  coastal  waters  and 

Only  10  % of  surface  water bodies  have good  ecological 
status or potential as illustrated in Figure 17. This shows 
that Germany has a long way to go to achieve the good 
status  or  potential  objectives  defined  in  the  Water 
Framework Directive. 

Figure 17: Ecological status or potential of surface water 
bodies in Germany67 

legislation 66  puts 

The  existing  EU  water 
in  place  a 
protective  framework  to  ensure  high  standards  for  all 
water  bodies  in  the  EU  and  addresses  specific  pollution 
sources  (for  example,  from  agriculture,  urban  areas  and 
industrial  activities).  It  also  requires  that  the  projected 
into  the 
impacts  of  climate  change  are 
corresponding  planning 
risk 
management  plans  and  river  basin  management  plans, 
including  programme  of  measures  which  include  the 
actions  that  Member  States  plan  to  take  in  order  to 
achieve the environmental objectives. 

instruments  e.g. flood 

integrated 

Water Framework Directive 

Germany  has  adopted  and  reported 
the  second 
generation river basin management plans. The European 
Commission  has  assessed  their  status  and  development 
since adoption of the the first plans.  

The most significant pressures on rivers in Germany are 
diffuse  agriculture  pollution  (65%  of  river  water  bodies 
affected),  diffuse  atmospheric  deposition  (61%),  and 
changes to their physical shape due to agriculture (39%) 
and flood protection (31%). For groundwater bodies the 
most significant pressure comes from agriculture (41%).  

The  most  widespread  and  significant  impact  on  surface 
water  bodies  is  chemical  pollution  (99%)  and  altered 
habitats  due  to  morphological  changes  (concerns  all 
transitional  water  bodies,  93%  of  rivers  and  35%  of 
lakes). 

The  most  significant  impact  on  groundwater  is  chemical 
pollution  (40%  of  ground  water  bodies),  followed  by 
nutrient  pollution  (12%)  and  abstractions  exceeding 
groundwater resources (4%). 

Surveillance  monitoring  as  regards  the  ecological  status 
in  surface  water  bodies  has  risen,  but  the  number  of 

66 This includes the Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7/EC), the Urban 
Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) (on discharges of 
municipal and some industrial wastewaters), the Drinking Water 
Directive (98/83/EC) (on potable water quality), the Water Framework 
Directive (2000/60/EC) (on water resources management), the Nitrates 
Directive (91/676/EEC) and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). 

Between  the  first  and  second  river  basin  management 
plans  the  proportion  of  surface  water  bodies  with  good 
chemical  status  fell  from  88%  to  0%.  This  pattern 
occurred across Germany and water body categories. The 
primary  reason  for  this  is  that  all  monitoring  samples 
showed levels of mercury that do not meet the relevant 
environmental  quality  standard.  For  this  reason  the 
assessment 
to  achieve  good'  has  been 
extrapolated to all surface water bodies. 

'failing 

The  monitoring  situation  of  quantitative  status  of 
groundwater  bodies  has  improved.  There  was  a  slight 
increase  in  the  total  number  of  groundwater  bodies 
failing  good  quantitative  status  –  up  from  2.7%  to 
3.5%.Germany  provided  an  enormous  volume  of  data 
entries  relating  to  gaps  and  indicators  for  the  scale  and 
progress  of 
implementationof  measures  until  2027. 
However,  the  data  provided  are  often  aggregated  and 
could  not  be  assessed  sufficiently.  Gap  values  are  not 
provided for 2027. Germany should, for example, ensure 
that  a  comprehensive  gap  assessment  for  diffuse 
pollutant 
(nutrients,  agri-
from  agriculture 
chemicals,  sediment,  organic  matter)  across  all  waters 
are completed and linked directly to mitigation measures 

loads 

67 EEA, WISE dashboard. 

18 

                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

in the third RBMPs in order to facilitate the achievement 
of WFD objectives.  

Bathing water 

Figure  18  shows  that,  in  2017,  of  Germany’s  2 287 
bathing waters, 91.4 % were of excellent quality, 5.3 % of 
good quality and 1.3 % of sufficient quality (as compared 
with 90.8 %, 5.7 % and 1.3 % respectively in 2016). Eight 
bathing  waters  were  of  poor  quality 68 .  Detailed 
information  is  available  from  a  national  portal 69 and  via 
the EEA’s interactive map viewer70. 
Figure 18: Bathing water quality, 2014–201771 

Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive  

Germany  demonstrates  excellent  levels  of  compliance 
with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive: 100 % 
of  waste  water 
is  collected  and  99.8 %  undergoes 
secondary treatment.  

Nitrates Directive 

levels  above  50 mg/l 

However, water pollution by nitrates in Germany remains 
in 
a  serious  concern.  Nitrate 
drinking  water  can  have  considerable  health  impacts  on 
populations,  especially  pregnant  women  and  babies. 
Purifying  excess  nitrates  from  drinking  water  is  a  very 
costly  process,  mainly  supported  by  households  and 
public authorities.  

There are continuing acute problems in groundwater and 
with  eutrophication  in  the  Baltic  and  North  Seas,  as 
shown in the latest report on the implementation of the 
Nitrates  Directive72 and  other  recent  German  reports73. 

68 EEA, European bathing water quality in 2016, 2017, p. 17. 
69 The German Environment Agency, national bathing water portal  
70 EEA, State of bathing waters. 
71 EEA, 2018, European bathing water quality in 2017, p. 21.  
72 European Commission, Report on the implementation of Council 
Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against 
pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources based on Member 
State reports for the period 2012–2015 (COM(2018) 257) and 
Commission staff working document SWD(2018) 246. 

19 

Of the Member States, Germany has the second-highest 
number of monitoring stations with average nitrate levels 
exceeding 50 mg/l. One source of pressure is its livestock 
density,  which  grew  by  3.5 %  in  2012-2015  compared 
with 2008-2011.  

Germany  was  referred  to  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  EU 
for  failing  to  take  stronger  measures  to  combat  water 
pollution  caused  by  nitrates.  In  June  2018,  the  Court 
confirmed  that  the  measures  in  the  action  programmes 
in  force  at  the  time  of  the  referral  were  insufficient  to 
meet  the  aims  of  the  Directive.  In  2017,  Germany 
updated  its  programme  of  measures  to  tackle  nitrate 
pollution  through  the  reform  of 
legislation  on 
fertilisers (Düngegesetz and Düngeverordnung74).  

its 

Floods Directive 

The  Floods  Directive  established  a  framework  for  the 
assessment and management of flood risks, aiming at the 
reduction  of  the  adverse  consequences  associated  with 
significant  floods.  ermany  has  adopted  and  reported  its 
first flood risk management plans under the Directive. 

The  Commission’s  assessment  found  that  good  efforts 
were made with positive results in setting objectives and 
designing  measures  focusing  on  prevention,  protection 
and  preparedness.  However,  Germany’s 
flood  risk 
management  plan,  like  those  of  other  Member  States 
does not yet include concrete enough measures linked to 
the  objectives  set  and  an  as  complete  as  possible 
estimation of the cost of measures with identification of 
specific sources of funding. In addition, there is scope for 
clarifying the method for the prioritisation of measures. 

2019 priority actions 

  Take steps in order to improve trend monitoring for all 
relevant substances in all river basin districts, in a way 
that provides sufficient temporal resolution and spatial 
coverage. 

  Complete a comprehensive gap assessment for diffuse 
pollutant loads from agriculture across all waters in all 
river  basin  districts  and  link  it  directly  to  mitigation 
measures. 

  Implement  the  court  ruling  on  the  Nitrates  Directive 
and  strenghten  its  implementation  to  address  the 
in 
current 
agricultural-intensive areas. 

serious  water  pollution,  especially 

  Take  steps  to  clarify  the  method 

for  selecting 
measures, including the use of cost/benefit analysis in 
relation to the flood risk management plans. 

73 e.g. report from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Umwelt und 
Landwirtschaft (2018). 
74 Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, 2017, 
Düngegesetz und Düngeverordnung. 

 
                                                                 
                                                                                                        
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Chemicals 

The  EU  seeks  to  ensure  that  by  2020  chemicals  are 
produced and used in ways that minimise any significant 
adverse  effects  on  human  health  and  the  environment. 
An  EU  strategy  for  a  non-toxic  environment  that  is 
conducive  to  innovation  and  to  developing  sustainable 
substitutes,  including  non-chemical  options,  is  being 
prepared. 

legislation 75  provides  baseline 
The  EU’s  chemicals 
protection for human health and the environment. It also 
for  businesses 
ensures  stability  and  predictability 
operating within the internal market. 

The  2016  European  Chemicals  Agency  (ECHA)  Report  on 
the operation of REACH and CLP76 (classification, labelling 
and  packaging  of  substances  and  mixtures)  showed  that 
enforcement activities are still evolving. In the Forum for 
Exchange  of  Information  on  Enforcement,  coordinated 
enforcement  projects77 have  shown  that  enforcement 
activities  can  still  be  improved,  in  particular  as  regards 
registration  obligations  and  safety  data  sheets,  where  a 
relatively high level of non-compliance has been found.  

including  controls  on 

There  is  room  for  further  improvement  of  national 
regards  harmonisation 
enforcement  activities  as 
throughout  the  EU, 
imported 
goods.  It  is  also  clear  that  enforcement  is  still  weak  in 
some  Member  States,  in  particular  with  respect  to  the 
control  of  imports  and  supply  chain  obligations.  The 
architecture of enforcement capabilities is still complex in 
most  EU  countries.  The  enforcement  projects  also 
revealed  some  differences  among  Member  States  (e.g. 
some  tend  to  systematically  report  compliance  levels 
above the EU average and others below). 

In 2015, a Commission study highlighted the importance 
of  harmonisation  in  the  implementation  of  REACH  at 
Member State level, in terms of market surveillance and 
enforcement, as a critical success factor in the operation 
of a harmonised single market78.  

In March 2018, the Commission published an evaluation 
of  REACH 79 .  The  evaluation  concludes  that  REACH 
delivers  on  its  objectives,  but  that  progress  made  is 
slower  than  anticipated.  In  addition,  the  registration 
dossiers often are incomplete. The evaluation underlines 

75 Principally for chemicals: REACH (OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p.1.); for 
Classification, Labelling and Packaging, the CLP Regulation (: OJ L 252, 
31.12.2006, p.1.), together with legislation on biocidal products and 
plant protection products. 
76 European Chemicals Agency, Report on the operation of REACH and 
CLP 2016. 
77 ECHA, On the basis of the projects REF-1, REF-2 and REF-3. 
78 European Commission (2015), Monitoring the impacts of REACH on 
innovation, competitiveness and SMEs. 
79 COM (2018) 116. 

the need to enhance enforcement by all actors, including 
registrants,  downstream  users  and 
in  particular  for 
importers,  to  ensure  a  level  playing  field,  meet  the 
objectives  of  REACH  and  ensure  consistency  with  the 
actions envisaged to improve environmental compliance 
and  governance.  Consistent  reporting  of  Member  State 
enforcement  activities  was  considered  important  in that 
respect. 

is 

involved 

Germany 
in  the  R4R-European  chemical 
regions  for  resource  efficiency,  which  brings  together 
research 
six 
countries80. 

industry  and 

institutes, 

regions 

in 

(Bundesanstalt 

In Germany, the competent authority for REACH, CLP and 
Biocides  is  the  Federal  Institute  for  Occupational  Safety 
and  Health 
für  Arbeitsschutz  und 
Arbeitsmedizin,  BAuA),  which  acts  as  the  Commission’s 
general contact point for the three regulations. It is also 
responsible  for  risk  management  and  operates  the 
national REACH-CLP-Biocides helpdesk. 

Enforcement is the responsibility of the Länder, but BAuA 
provides  them  with  scientific  expertise, 
information 
services  (e.g. training,  brochures  and  guidelines)  and 
legal  support.  It  also  acts  as  a  focal  point  for  their 
contacts with other European authorities. 

The  Land  enforcement  authorities  conduct  regular 
inspections  on  companies  and  products  on  the  German 
market. They also run focused enforcement projects and 
check  imports  in  cooperation  with  national  customs 
authorities. 

The authorities meet regularly in various working groups 
and committees, such as the Federal Government/Länder 
working  committee  on  chemical  safety  (Bund/Länder 
Arbeitsgemeinschaft  Chemikaliensicherheit,  BLAC), 
in 
order to resolve common issues and ensure harmonised 
REACH, CLP and Biocides enforcement81. 

Making cities more sustainable 

EU policy on the urban environment encourages cities to 
put  policies  in  place  for  sustainable  urban  planning  and 
design.  These  should  include  innovative  approaches  to 
urban  public 
sustainable 
buildings,  energy  efficiency  and  urban  biodiversity 
conservation. 

transport  and  mobility, 

living 

in  urban  areas 

The  population 
is 
projected to rise to just over 80% by 205082.  Urban areas 
pose  particular  challenges  for  the  environment  and 
human  health,  but  they  also  provide  opportunities  for 

in  Europe 

80 European Commission, Improving resource efficiency in SMEs, 2017, 
p. 43.  
81ECHA, National Inspectorates – Germany.  
82 European Commission, Eurostat, Urban Europe, 2016, p.9. 

20 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

using  resources  more  efficiently.  The  EU  encourages 
municipalities to become greener through initiatives such 
as  the  Green  Capital  Award83,  the  Green  Leaf  Award84 
and the Green City Tool85. 

Financing greener cities 

better urban environment. In 2017, 35 % of German city 
dwellers  considered  that  their  residential  area  was 
affected  by  pollution,  grime  or  other  environmental 
problems,  up  from  32.9 %  in  2016.  This  is  far  above  the 
level for the EU as a whole (20 % in 2017)92.  

(ERDF)  excluding 

Germany has assigned about EUR 885 million, or 8.2 % of 
its  allocation  from  the  European  Regional  Development 
to 
Fund 
sustainable  urban  development 86 .  Seven  Länder  are 
implementing  measures  to  support  sustainable  urban 
development under Article 7 of the ERDF Regulation87.  

technical  assistance, 

the 

Germany  participates 
European  Urban 
in 
Development  Network88,  which  consists  of  more  than 
500 cities across the EU implementing integrated actions 
in  2014-2020  on  the  basis  of  ERDF-financed  sustainable 
urban development strategies. 

Participation in EU urban initiatives and networks 

involved 

in  EU 
German  municipalities  are  generally 
initiatives  on  environment  protection  and  climate 
change. In 2011, Hamburg became the first German city 
to win the Green Capital Award and Essen was awarded 
the title in 2017. German cities are also actively involved 
in  initiatives  such  as  Eurocities  and  the  EU  Covenant  of 
Mayors.  As  of  June  2018,  some  72  German  cities  had 
signed up to the Covenant under the coordination of the 
Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar and the Stuttgart region89. 

A  total  of  33  municipalities  take  part  in  the  URBACT 
initiative  to  support  sustainable  urban  development, 
through various thematic networks90. The city of Munich, 
for  example,  leads  the  Bright  Mobility  Management 
network,  which  seeks  to  promote  environment-friendly 
transport and reduce car traffic and thus air pollution.  

Several Horizon 2020 network projects have contributed 
to the sustainability of cities. The Civitas initiative brings 
together nine German municipalities in a common effort 
to achieve cleaner and better transport in cities91. 

initiatives  and  networks  should  be 
These  urban 
welcomed  and  encouraged,  as  they  can  contribute  to  a 

83European Commission, European Green Capital. 
84European Commission, European Green Leaf Award. 
85 European Commission, Green City Tool. 
86 The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and 
Energy,Partnerschaftsvereinbarung. 
87 Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 17 December 2013 on the European Regional Development 
Fund and on specific provisions concerning the Investment for growth 
and jobs goal and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 (OJ L 347, 
20.12.2013, p. 289–302).  
88 European Commission, The Urban Development Network. 
89 European Commission, Civitias Initiative . 
90 URBACT, Associated networks by country  
91 CIVITAS cities. 

Nature and cities  

More  than  55 %  of  Germany’s  part  of  the  Natura 2000 
network  is  to  be  found  in  functional  urban  areas93,  far 
more  than  the  EU  average  of  15 %  (see  Figure  19),  as 
Germany  created  a  dense  network  of  relatively  small 
protected  sites  that  frequently  overlap  with  urbanised 
areas. 

Figure  19:  Proportion  of  Natura  2000  network 
functional urban areas (FUAs)94 

in 

This  represents  huge  potential,  as  cities  can  and  must 
play  a  greater  role  in  the  management  of  vulnerable 
ecosystems and biodiversity. 

(‘green  urban 

In  2017,  the  Federal  Government  launched  its  first 
support  programme  for  urban  development  –  Zukunft 
Stadtgrün 
future’).  A  total  of  130 
municipalities  applied  for  a  share  of  the  EUR 50 million 
funding for measures to improve urban green areas. The 
programme is one of the most important instruments for 
the  financing  of  sustainable  urban  development 
in 
Germany  and  was  announced  in  a  2017  white  paper 
(Weißbuch  Stadtgrün)95.  The  10  fields  for  action  cover  a 
variety  of  measures  to  make  German  cities  greener  and 
will  help  to  implement  the  UN  SDGs.  In  addition,  there 
are  options  to  finance  GI  measures  under  existing 
programmes such as Soziale Stadt96 and Stadtumbau97. 

92European Commission, Eurostat, Pollution, grime or other 
environmental problems by degree of urbanisation. 
93 European Commission, Definition of Functional Urban Areas. 
94 European Commission, 7th report on economic, social and territorial 
cohesion, 2017, p. 121. 
95 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety, Green spaces in the city, white paper. 
96Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety, Programme Soziale Stadt. 
97 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety, Programme Stadtumbau. 

21 

                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

cities, the picture is different: 31 % use public transport; 
in the city states of Berlin and Hamburg, the figure is over 
40 %105.  

Generally, the transport sector is facing big changes, such 
as car-sharing, ride-sharing and electric and autonomous 
vehicles.  Car-sharing  is  still  vastly  under-exploited  as  an 
option  for  more  sustainable  urban  transport.  A  recent 
case study found that it accounts for less than 0.1 % of all 
passenger-kilometres by motor vehicle in Germany106. 

Among the main health and environmental challenges in 
urban areas, air quality – an area in which Germany is not 
in compliance with EU law – demands particular priority 
action.  

Urban sprawl  

Large  parts  of  Europe  are  affected  by  urban  sprawl.  In 
2009, the degree of ‘weighted urban proliferation’ (WUP) 
in  Europe  (32  countries,  i.e.  EU-28  +  four  others98)  was 
1.64 urban  permeation  units  (UPU)/m2,  with  country 
values ranging from 0.1 to 6.6 UPU/m2. The Scandinavian 
Germany 
countries 
(33.83 UPU/m2)99100 is  just  behind  the  Member  States 
with  the  highest  (the  Netherlands  and  Belgium).  The 
urban sprawl hotspot in the area around the River Rhine 
covers  part  of  Germany,  together  with  the  Netherlands, 
Belgium and Luxembourg. 

values; 

lowest 

had 

the 

Traffic congestion and urban mobility 

The  number  of  road  vehicles  in  Germany  has  risen  to 
63.7 million  by  1st  January  2018 101,  which  is  the  highest 
rate  to  date.  However,  there  are  relatively  fewer  in  big 
cities than in rural areas.  

The  time  spent  in  traffic  jams  remains  high:  about 
30 hours  per  year  for  the  average  driver 102,  which  is 
around  the  EU  average103.  Congestion  and  looking  for 
parking  has  been  estimated  to  cost  EUR 110  billion  per 
year,  or  about  4 %  of  GDP 104 .  As  transport  is  an 
intermediary  service,  this  probably  causes  productivity 
losses in other sectors. 

Bike  ownership 
is  growing  constantly.  The  total  of 
73 million bicycles equates to nearly one bike per person, 
but  still  only  9 %  of  the  people  cycle  to  work.  The  car 
remains by far the most common means of transport for 
commuters. Overall, 68 % used a car in 2016, hardly any 
change from 2000 (67 %), regardless of the length of the 
commute.  Only  13.8 %  used  public  transport.  In  large 

98 Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. 
99 Urban Permeation Units measure the size of the built-up area as well 
as its degree of dispersion throughout the region. 
100 EEA report No 11/2016, Urban sprawl in Europe. 
101Federal Motor Transport Authority, Jahresbilanz des 
Fahrzeugbestandes. 
102 European Commission, European Transport scoreboard. 
103 Tom Tom Traffic Index. 
104 OECD Economic Surveys: Germany 2018. 

from 

action 

programme 

Innovative  approaches  to  traffic  management  and 
multimodal transport are being developed and tested in 
many  cities.  Shared  mobility  services  can  encourage  a 
individual  car  use.  Through  the 
shift  away 
‘immediate 
air’ 
(Sofortprogramm  Saubere  Luft  2017-2020),  the  Federal 
Government  is  making  funding  of  EUR 1 billion  available 
for municipalities to electrify and retrofit public transport 
and  taxi  fleets.  This  amount  was  increased  to  1.5  billion 
in  December  2018.  In  2017,  it  made  EUR 300 million 
available  over  four  years  to  promote  the  installation  of 
new  standard  and  high-speed  charging  stations  for 
electric vehicles, and to extend existing infrastructure. 

clean 

Most  German  cities  have  had  urban  transport  plans 
(Verkehrsentwicklungspläne,  VEPs)  since  the  1960s107. 
Although  they  are  not  legally  binding  for  city  councils, 
most  cities  and  urban  regions  use  such  plans  as  an 
important tool for general land-use planning. They guide 
most  infrastructure  and  mobility  management  decisions 
in  cities.  In  recent  years,  VEPs  have  become  more 
integrated,  with  most  increasingly  including  elements  of 
sustainable  urban  mobility  plans  (SUMPs).  However, 
other planning documents (e.g. for land-use, ambient air 
quality improvement, noise abatement) are still separate 
and sometimes set somewhat different objectives. 

105 Statistisches Bundesamt, Berufspendler. 
110 Circular Impacts , Car Sharing in Germany, Best, Aaron & Hasenheit, 
Marius, Ecologic Institute, 2018. 
107 Eltis, Member State profile. 

22 

 
                                                                 
 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Part II: Enabling framework: implementation tools 

4.  Green taxation, green public procurement, environmental funding 
and investments 

Green  taxation  and  environmentally  harmful 
subsidies 

Financial 
incentives,  taxation  and  other  economic 
instruments  are  effective  and  efficient  ways  to  meet 
environmental  policy  objectives.  The  circular  economy 
action  plan  encourages  their  use.  Environmentally 
harmful  subsidies  are  monitored  in  the  context  of  the 
European  Semester  and  the  energy  union  governance 
process. 

Germany’s  revenues  from  environmental  taxes  are 
among  the  lowest  in  the  EU,  accounting  for  1.86 %  of 
GDP  in  2016  (EU  average:  2.44 %;  see  Figure  20),  down 
from  2 %  in  2014.  Energy  taxes  account  for  1.54 %  of 
GDP, compared with an EU average of 1.88 %. 

from  consumption 

Revenues 
taxes  also  remained 
relatively  low  (10.3  %  of  GDP  in  2016),  whereas  those 
from labour taxes as a share of GDP were relatively high 
in  2016  at  22 %  of  GDP  (EU  average  19.3 %)108.  The 
decrease in the share of environmental taxes as a share 
of GDP is mainly due to the fact that tax rates on motor 
fuels have not been adjusted since 2003. As a result, they 
have  been  eroded  by  inflation  down  to  the  level  they 
were  at  before  the  ecological  tax  reform  programme 
implemented over the years 1999 to 2003. 
In  the  context  of  the  European  Semester 109 ,  the 
Commission  has  repeatedly  pointed  to  the  potential  for 
shifting taxation to tax bases less detrimental to growth, 
including  environmental  taxes.  Fossil-fuel  subsidies  have 
increased in the past decade, mainly due to the growing 
importance  of  energy  tax  relief  for  energy-intensive 
processes  and  various  tax  exemptions  for  commercial 
aviation,  public  transport  and  diesel  used  in  agriculture 
and  forestry110.  Subsidies  for  natural  gas  have  also  risen 
in  recent  years,  while  tax  expenditures  to  support  the 
reconversion  of  the  coal-mining 
industry  are  being 
phased out by 2020. 

No  progress  has  been  made  on  reducing  the  ‘diesel 
differential’  (price-gap  between  diesel  and  petrol)  since 

108 European Commission, Taxation trends report, 2017. 
109 European Commission, the European Semester.  
110 OECD, Inventory of support measures for fossil fuels, 2018.  

2005.  In  2016,  the  gap  between  petrol  and  diesel  tax 
rates  remained  at  39 %,  among  the  widest  in  the  EU111. 
Excise tax rates were similar to those in 2015 (EUR 0.65/l 
for petrol and EUR 0.47/l for diesel)112.  

Figure  20:  Environmental  tax  revenues  as  %  of  GDP 
(2017)113 

Germany’s  motor  vehicle  taxes  are  based  on  CO2 
emissions. The annual road tax consists of a basic tax and 
a CO2 component. Cars with emissions below 95 g/km are 
exempt from the latter114. There are several incentives to 
purchase cars with lower CO2 emissions – some linked to 
the  annual  road  tax,  tolls  and  congestion/low-emission 

111 EEA 2016, Environmental taxation and EU environmental policies, 
p.27. 
112 European Commission, Taxes in Europe database. 
113 Eurostat, Environmental tax revenues, 2018.  
114 European Automotive manufacturers association, CO2 based motor 
vehicle taxes in the EU. 

23 

 
 
 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

infrastructures 115 .  The 

zone  charges,  and  others  to  the  acquisition  or  use  of 
public 
introduction  of  new 
emission testing standards on 1 September 2018 has led 
to an adjustment of taxes for newly registered cars based 
on more realistic CO2 emissions116.  

One  of  Germany’s  most  positive  environmental  fiscal 
measures is the results-based agri-environment measure 
in  Baden-Württemberg,  which  pays  farmers  who  have 
certain  wildflower  species  on  their  grassland.  The 
programme  has  been  extended  to  six  species  for  2014-
2020,  with  increased  payment  rates117.  Another  good 
example  is  biodiversity  offsetting,  which  aims  to  avoid 
net losses of biodiversity and certain ecosystem services 
through  compensation118.  This  measure  has  helped  to 
reduce biodiversity loss in Germany, but it is still far from 
achieving all its objectives. 

Green public procurement  

The  EU  green  public  procurement  policies  encourage 
Member  States  to  take  further  steps  to  apply  green 
procurement  criteria  to  at  least  50 %  of  public  tenders. 
The European Commission is helping to increase the use 
of  public  procurement  as  a  strategic  tool  to  support 
environmental protection. 

The purchasing power of public procurement amounts to 
around  EUR 1.8  trillion  in  the  EU  (approximately  14%  of 
GDP).  A  substantial  proportion  of  this  money  goes  to 
sectors  with  a  high  environmental 
impact  such  as 
construction  or  transport.  Therefore,  green  public 
procurement  (GPP)  can  help  to  significantly  lower  the 
negative  impact  of  public  spending  on  the  environment 
and  can  help  support  sustainable  innovative  businesses. 
The Commission has proposed EU GPP criteria119. 

Germany’s  integrated  energy  and  climate  protection 
programme  includes  a  national  GPP  strategy  that  sets 
mandatory targets for all federal-level authorities to use 
lifecycle  costing  in  their  procurement  procedures,  in 
order 
and 
environment-friendly public procurement. 

energy-efficient 

ensure 

to 

Guidelines,  criteria  lists  and  vendor  questionnaires  have 
been drawn up for numerous products and services (heat 

115 European Commission, Taxes in Europe database.  
116 Bundesministerium der Finanzen, Neue WLTP Tests und Kfz-Steuern. 
117 Institute for European Environmental Policy, case studies on 
environmental fiscal reform, Agri-environmental measure in Baden-
Württemberg.  
118 Institute for European Environmental Policy, case studies on 
environmental fiscal reform, Biodiversity offsetting in Germany.  
119 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. 

24 

office 

furniture, 

equipment, 

consumer 
supply, 
electronics,  cleaning  and  hygiene).  A  common  decree 
requires  that  wood  products  procured  by  the  federal 
administration  demonstrably  derive  from  sustainably 
managed  forests.  However,  most  public  procurement  is 
done on sub-central level and the Länder have their own 
provisions on the obligations to use sustainability criteria 
in public procurement. These obligations vary from Land 
to Land. 

Training activities on sustainable public procurement are 
organised  regularly  and  several 
tools  have  been 
developed  to  help  contracting  authorities  use  the 
available lifecycle-costing tools. 

the 

actions  by 

its  sustainable  development  strategy 

(Deutsche 
In 
Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie), 
Federal  Government 
committed  itself  to  ensuring  sustainability  in  specific 
administrative 
sustainable 
procurement. A number of GPP targets in some product 
groups  (textiles,  recycling,  paper,  car  fleet)  are  binding 
for  Federal  Government  authorities.  The  proportion  of 
electric vehicles purchased by the Federal Government is 
to reach at least 20 % by 2019.  

improving 

A  European  Parliament  study  shows  that  Germany  has 
partially implemented its GPP national action plan120.  

Environmental funding and investments 

European  Structural  and  Investment  Fund  (ESIF)  rules 
oblige  Member  States  to  promote  environment  and 
climate  in  their  funding  strategies  and  programmes  for 
economic, 
rural 
development and maritime policy. 

social  and 

cohesion, 

territorial 

Achieving  sustainability  involves  mobilising  public  and 
private  financing  sources 121 .  Use  of  the  European 
Structural  and  Investment  Funds  (ESIFs)122 is  essential  if 
countries  are  to  achieve  their  environmental  goals  and 
integrate 
into  other  policy  areas.  Other 
instruments such as Horizon 2020, the LIFE programme123 
and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)124 
may also support the implementation and spread of good 
practices. 

these 

120 European Parliament, Green public procurement and the action plan 
for the circular economy, 2017, pp. 79-80. 
121 See, for example, Action plan on financing sustainable growth 
(COM(2018) 97).  
122 i.e. the European Regional Development Fund (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 are referred to as 
the ‘cohesion policy funds’. 
123 European Commission, LIFE programme. 
124European Investment Bank, European Fund for Strategic Investments, 
2016. 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 

Germany  is  receiving  ESIF  funding  of  EUR 27.9 billion  in 
2014-2020, 
regional 
programmes125. 

national 

through 

and 

48 

total  of  EUR 3 051.4 million 

A 
‘environment protection and resource efficiency’  

is  dedicated 

to 

objectives into the common agricultural policy (CAP), the 
key areas for Germany (as for all Member States) are: 

-  using 

rural  development 

for 
land  management  and  other 
environmental 
environmental  measures,  and  not  measures  that 
could damage the environment; and  

to  pay 

funds 

- 

- 

- 

EUR 2283 million 
programmes; 

through 

the  different  EAFRD 

EUR 655.8 million through ERDF programmes; and  

EUR 112.6 million  through  the  European  Maritime 
and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) programme.  

In  addition,  under  the  three  above-cited  funds  (ERDF. 
EAFRD  and  EMFF)  EUR 2 923.68 million  is  earmarked  for 
‘low  carbon  economy’  Thematic  Objective  and 
the 
EUR 2 728.96 million 
‘promoting  climate  change 
adaptation  and  risk  prevention  and  management’ 
Thematic Objective. 

for 

Cohesion policy 

Germany receives over EUR 19.2 billion in total cohesion 
policy  funding  for  the  2014-2020  period, 
including 
EUR 0.9  billion  for  European  territorial  cooperation  and 
EUR 7.5  billion  from  the  ESF 126.  There  are  32  ERDF 
operational programmes (OPs) and one national ESF OP.  

-  ensuring  effective  implementation  of  the  first  pillar 
of  the  CAP  with  regard  to  cross-compliance  and 
‘greening’.  

Germany  receives  EUR 9  446 million  in  EARDF  rural 
development funding, which is shared among 14 regional 
programmes (the  one  for  the  region  of  Berlin  is  merged 
with  the  one  for  Brandenburg  and  the  one  for  Bremen 
with the one for Lower Saxony). Planned spending on the 
ecosystem  priority  (no 4)  is  EUR 4  685 million,  which 
represents 49 % of the total budget. Another 21 % (EUR 2 
053 million)  is  dedicated  to  agri-environment-climate 
measures, EUR 1 094 million to organic farming, EUR 87.5 
million  to  supporting  compliance  with  Natura 2000 
obligations and EUR 1 015 million to payments for areas 
with natural constraints.  

The  national  figures  hide  disparities  among  the  Länder. 
Bavaria  and  Baden-Württemberg  allocate  more  than 
60 % for priority 4. Brandenburg and Hessen have a very 
low  budget  (less  than  10 %)  for  agri-environment 
measures,  while  Bavaria  and  Baden-Württemberg  put  a 
big emphasis on the environment, with over 30 % of their 
budget allocated to such measures.  

Figure  21:  ESIF  2014-2020  –  EU  allocation  by  theme, 
Germany (EUR billion)127 

The  Länder  are  using  ERDF  funding  for  very  diverse 
projects,  from  circular  economy  projects  such  as  pilot 
testing  processes  and  plants  for  the  recovery  of 
phosphorous  from  sewage  sludge  (Baden-Württemberg) 
to projects to finance Green Infrastructure in urban areas 
as  part  of  integrated  sustainable  urban  development 
(North  Rhine-Westphalia)  and  programmes  supporting 
nature protection and rehabilitation (several Länder). 

Rural development 

With  regard  to  the 

integration  of  environmental 

In  general,  the  regional  programmes  are  based  on 
coherent 
strategies,  with  many  agri-environment 
measures  suited  to  addressing  specific  environmental 

125 European Commission, ESIFs country data for Germany. 
126 European Commission, Cohesion Policy and Germany, 2014. 

127 European Commission, ESIF data by country. 

25 

 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Several 

Länder  have 

improved  existing 
needs. 
biodiversity  measures  and  made  them  more  suitable  to 
deliver on biodiversity protection and the conservation of 
endangered  species  and  habitats,  or  have  introduced 
new  measures,  some  targeting  the  protection  of  insects 
and/or pollinators. However, more remains to be done to 
fully  address  Natura  2000  needs  and  the  dramatic 
biodiversity 
rural  areas.  Rural 
development  alone  cannot  tackle  serious environmental 
problems  such  as  water  and air  pollution, which  require 
effective national legislation.  

losses  occuring 

in 

Germany’s  direct  payments  envelope  for  2014-2020  is 
EUR 24  254 million,  30 %  of  which  (EUR 7.28 million)  is 
allocated  to  greening  practices.  An  environmentally 
ambitious  implementation  of  first-pillar  greening  would 
clearly help improve the environmental situation in areas 
not  covered  by  the  rural  development  pillar,  including 
intensively farmed areas. 

European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 

Germany receives EUR 220 million in co-financing for the 
fisheries  and  maritime  sector  Several  environmentally 
beneficial projects have been financed under priorities 1 
(sustainable fisheries) and 2 (sustainable aquaculture) of 
its operational programme EUR 64 million (nearly 30 %) is 
dedicated  to  environmentally  sustainable,  resource-
efficient, innovative aquaculture. 

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 

The  CEF  is  a  key  EU  funding  instrument  developed 
specifically  to  direct 
investment  towards  European 
transport,  energy  and  digital  infrastructure  to  address 
identified  missing  links  and  bottlenecks  and  promote 
sustainability. 

By the end of 2017, Germany had signed agreements for 
EUR 2.1 billion for projects under the CEF 128. 

Horizon 2020 

A  number  of  Horizon  2020  projects  in  Germany  or  with 
German  participation  are  aimed  at  achieving  positive 
environmental impacts; for example: 

- 

- 

the FAIRWAY project129, which explores agricultural 
practices  as  regards  the  use  of  pesticides  and 
nitrogen  in  order  to  address  major  environmental 
and health challenges; and 
the  BAMB  project 130 ,  which  is  developing  and 
demonstrating  integrated  approaches  to  help  the 
in  the  transition  to  a  circular 
building  sector 
economy. 

LIFE programme 

The  EU  allocated  EUR  38  million  to  German  projects  in 
2014-2017131. These include the LIFE Limicodra project to 
protect  meadow  birds  in  coastal  areas  of  Western 
Pomerania,  with  a  EU  contribution  of  over  EUR 2 
million132. 

Altogether,  LIFE  projects  represent  an  investment  of 
EUR 953.8  million,  of  which  EUR 398  million  is  from  the 
EU budget. 

European Investment Bank 

In  2018  alone,  the  EIB  Group  (the  European  Investment 
Bank  and  the  European  Investment  Fund) 133  loaned 
German  businesses  and  public 
institutions  EUR 4.84 
billion,  as  shown  in  Figure  22.  Of  this,  EUR 1.31  billion 
(27 %) went to environmental projects.  
Figure 22: EIB loans to Germany in 2018134 

Over  five  years  (2011-2015),  the  EIB  invested  EUR  33.3 
billion in the German economy, of which 11 % which was 
for waste, sewage and urban projects. 

Examples of environmental projects are the construction 
of  a  wind  farm  in  the  Baltic  Sea  and  investments  in  the 
public transport infrastructure in Brandenburg. 

European Fund for Strategic Investments 

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is an 
initiative to help overcome the current investment gap in 
the  EU.  As  of  January  2019,  it  has  mobilised  EUR 7.3 
billion 
investment 
in  Germany,  and  the  secondary 
triggered by this is expected to be EUR 34.7 billion135.  

The KSPG Automotive project concerns selected research 
and  development 
to 
technological 
for  combustion  engines, 
contributing to greater efficiency and reduced emissions 
from  automotive  vehicles.  This  multi-country  project 

investments  mostly 

innovations 

relating 

128 European Commission, European Semester Country Report for 
Germany, 2018, p. 12. 
129 European Commission, FAIRWAY project. 
130 European Commission, BAMB project. 

131 Commission services, based on data provided by EASME.  
132 European Commission, LIFE Limicodra. 
133 The EIB Group includes EIB and EFSI investments and loans. 
134 EIB, Germany and the EIB, 2018. 
135 European Investment Bank, EFSI project map. 

26 

                                                                 
                                                                 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

(involving  Germany,  France  and  Italy)  receives  EFSI 
financing of about EUR 250 million and the expected total 
investment amounts to EUR 528 million. 

National environmental financing 

Germany  spent  EUR  19.185  billion  (0.6 %  of  GDP)  on 
environmental  protection  in  2016,  an  increase  of  6.7 % 
from  2015.  Of  this,  27 %  was  allocated  to  waste 
management  (the  average  in  the  EU  is  49.7 %),  23 %  to 
wastewater  management  and  27.7 %  to  pollution 
abatement.  Some  8.2 %  of  environmental  expenditure 
(EUR 1  571 billion)  was  allocated 
to  protecting 
biodiversity and the landscape. Between 2012 and 2016, 
general 
environmental 
funding 
protection  came  to  EUR  88  849 billion,  the  second 
highest absolute figure in the EU136. 

government 

for 

Several  programmes  have  been  developed  to  finance 
projects relating to the environment, nature and climate 
protection,  e.g. renewable  energy  and  energy  efficiency. 
EUR 17 million  a  year  is  made  available  through  the 
Bundesförderung 
chance.natur 
longstanding 
Naturschutz (nature protection) programme.  

– 

financing 

However, as was mentioned within the ‘Maintaining and 
restoring  ecosystems  and  their  services’  section,  a 
considerable 
threatens  Germany’s 
gap 
achievement  of  its  nature  conservation  goals.  Although 
green infrastructure is integrated in several policy areas, 
more  could  be  done  given  the  significant  pressure  on 
ecosystems from sectors such as agriculture or transport.  

In  addition,  more  investment  is  needed  in  low-carbon 
infrastructure, including for transport, to achieve further 
emission reductions and climate objectives. 

2019 priority action 

  Ensure  adequate  funding  for  green  infrastructure,  e.g. 
through  effective  integration  within  priority  action 
frameworks  and  agri-environment  measures,  public 
and private funding sources. 

136 Eurostat, General government expenditure by function, 2018. 

27 

 
 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

5. 

Strengthening environmental governance 

Germany’s  performance  on  the  implementation  of  the 
INSPIRE  Directive  leaves  room  for  improvement.  It  has 
been reviewed on the basis of the 2016 implementation 
report144 and the most recent (2017) monitoring data145. 
Progress  and  implementation  levels  for  coordination, 
dataset identification and data documentation are good. 
Additional  efforts  are  needed  to  improve  data  access 
through  services,  streamline  the  conditions  for  data 
in 
reuse  and  prioritise  environmental  datasets 
implementation,  in  particular  highvalue-  spatial  datasets 
for the implementation of environmental legislation146. 

Figure  23:  Access  to  spatial  data  through  view  and 
download services in Germany (2017) 

Information, public participation and access to 
justice 

Citizens  can  more  effectively  protect  the  environment  if 
they  can  rely  on  the  three  ‘pillars’  of  the  Aarhus 
Convention:  
(i) access to information;  
(ii) public participation in decision making; and  
(iii) access to justice in environmental matters.  

It is of crucial importance to public authorities, the public 
and  business  that  environmental  information  is  shared 
efficiently  and  effectively137.  Public  participation  allows 
authorities  to  make  decisions  that  take  public  concerns 
into account. Access to justice is a set of guarantees that 
allows  citizens  and  NGOs  to  use  national  courts  to 
protect the environment138. It includes the right to bring 
legal challenges (‘legal standing’)139. 

Environmental information  

legislation 

Information  on 

There  are  two  main  central  websites  in  Germany  for 
accessing environmental information: the website of the 
Ministry  of  the  Environment  (BMU)140 and  the  national 
geoportal 141 . 
is  easily 
accessible and all geodata are available on the geoportal, 
for  monitoring  and  historical  datasets;  in  some  cases, 
similar Land-level websites need to be consulted to get a 
complete  picture.  There  is  a  lot  of  information  available 
and  with  the  necessary  effort  it  is  possible  to  find  it  in 
most  cases.  The  main  problem  is  that  it  is  spread  over 
many  different  sites.  On  the  other  hand,  all  sites  are 
completely  available  in  English,  provide  a  lot  of  user 
support and are in a clear, user-friendly format. There are 
some  good  examples  at  the  Land-level,  for  instance  on 
Hamburg’s main city portal142 or in Saxony143. These main 
portals  are  very  comprehensive  on  all 
types  of 
environmental information. 

137 The Aarhus Convention, the Access to Environmental Information 
Directive 2003/4/EC and the INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC together 
create a legal foundation for the sharing of environmental information 
between public authorities and with the public. This EIR focuses on 
INSPIRE. 
138 The guarantees are explained in Commission Notice on access to 
justice in environmental matters, OJL 275, 18.8.2017 and a related 
Citizen’s Guide. 
139 This EIR looks at how well Member States explain access to justice 
rights to the public, and at legal standing and other major barriers to 
bringing cases on nature and air pollution. 
140 The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety. 
141 Geoportal.de. 
142 Hamburg’s main city portal. 
143 Sachsen portal. 

Public participation  

147

 aligned 

cross-cutting 

a  number  of 

In  Germany, 
and 
sector-specific  laws  regulate  public  participation.  The 
several 
Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligungsgesetz
pieces  of  legislation  so  as  to  streamline  the  provisions. 
Federal  and  Land-level  administrative  procedure  acts 
(VwVfGs)  complement  the  legal  framework  by  requiring 
public  authorities  to  advise  parties  to  proceedings  and 
inform  them,  inter  alia,  of  their  rights  and  obligations. 
Informal  consultation  mechanisms  have  been  tested  for 
in  various  areas  of  environmental 
some  years 
policymaking 148  and  new 
forms  of  early  public 
participation are currently being tested, especially in the 
area of  energy  transition and related  infrastructure,  and 

144 INSPIRE country sheet - Germany, 2017. 
145 INSPIRE monitoring dashboard. 
146 European Commission, List of high value spatial datasets. 
147 Bundesgesetzblatt online, Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligungsgesetz 
148 For an overview and a description of various case studies, see Bock, 
S. and Reimann, B. (2017), Beteiligungsverfahren bei umweltrelevanten 
Vorhaben (Participation procedures in the context of environmental 
projects), report commissioned by the UBA;  

28 

 
 
                                                                 
 
                                                                 
 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

project planning and implementation processes. In 2017, 
91 %  of  respondents149 agreed  with  the  statement  that 
‘as  an  individual  you  can  play  a  role  in  protecting  the 
environment in our country’. 

law 151  and  make 
the  data  and 
environmental 
documentation at least accessible ‘as is’ to other public 
authorities  and  the  public  through  the  digital  services 
provided for in the INSPIRE Directive. 

Compliance assurance 

to  ensure 

Environmental compliance assurance covers all the work 
that 
undertaken  by  public  authorities 
industries,  farmers  and  others  fulfil  their  obligations  to 
protect  water,  air  and  nature,  and  manage  waste152.  It 
includes  support  measures  provided  by  the  authorities, 
such as:  
(i) compliance promotion153;  
(ii) inspections and other checks that they carry out, i.e. 
compliance monitoring154; and  
(iii)  the  steps  that  they  take  to  stop  breaches,  impose 
sanctions  and  require  damage  to  be  remedied,  i.e. 
enforcement155.  
Citizen  science  and  complaints  enable  authorities  to 
liability 156 
focus  their  efforts  better.  Environmental 
ensures that the polluter pays to remedy any damage. 

Compliance promotion and monitoring 

The  quality  of online  information  for  farmers  on  how  to 
comply  with  nitrates  and  nature  obligations 
is  an 
indicator of how actively authorities promote compliance 
in  fields  where  there  are  serious  implementation  gaps. 
Germany  lacks  clear  official  website  information  to  help 
farmers comply with these obligations. 

Major  industrial  installations  present  serious  pollution 
risks.  Public  authorities  are  required  to  draw  up 
inspection plans for them and to make inspection reports 
available  to  the  public157.  In  Germany,  the  Länder  are 
responsible  for  such  plans.  The  three  Länder  that  were 
looked  at  (Berlin 158 ,  Lower  Saxony 159  and  North 

151 European Commission, MIWP action 2016.5: Priority list of datasets 
for e-reporting. 
152 The concept is explained in detail in the Communication on ‘EU 
actions to improve environmental compliance and governance’ 
COM(2018)10 and the related Commission Staff Working Document, 
SWD(2018)10. 
153 This EIR focuses on the help given to farmers to comply with nature 
and nitrates legislation. 
154 This EIR focuses on inspections of major industrial installations. 
155This EIR focuses on the availability of enforcement data and co-
ordination between authorities to tackle environmental crime. 
156 The Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/EC , creates the 
framework. 
157 Article 23 IED. 
158Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate 
Protection, Berlin.  
159Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate 
Protection, Lower Saxony. 

29 

Access to justice  

Information  on  access  to  justice  can  be  found  on  the 
websites  of  the  BMU  and  the  Federal  Environment 
Agency  (UBA),  including  information  about  case-law  on 
air pollution plans. In May 2018, UBA and BMU published 
an  information  document  about  the  Aarhus  Convention 
(“Beteiligungsrechte im Umweltschutz - Was bringt Ihnen 
die  Aarhus-Konvention?“).  This  up-to-date  document 
contains  information  on  access  to  justice  in  a  practical 
and tailored way150. 

In  general,  German  legislation  provides  for  a  subjective 
rights-based  approach  to  legal  standing  rights-based 
approach  to  legal  standing  (i.e. the  ability  of  a  party  to 
demonstrate sufficient connection to and harm from the 
law or action challenged). This has been restrictive in the 
past. However, the Environmental Appeals Act has been 
amended to implement Court of Justice access-to-justice 
case-law.  Legal  standing  is  provided  for  NGOs  in  nature 
cases under the Federal Act for the Protection of Nature 
and German courts follow Court of Justice case-law on air 
pollution.  

Germany’s readiness to uphold Court of Justice case-law 
on legal standing in air pollution and nature cases can be 
considered as a good practice.  

2019 priority action 

  Improve access to spatial data and services by making 
stronger linkages between the federal INSPIRE website 
and  regional portals,  identify  and document  all  spatial 
implementation  of 
datasets 

required 

the 

for 

149 2017 Special Eurobarometer 468 on attitudes of EU citizens  
 towards the environment. 
150Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and 
Nuclear Safety, Aarhus Convention publication. 

 
                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Rhine-Westphalia 160)  all  publish  information  on  their 
plans; North Rhine-Westphalia does this at district level.  

Citizen science and complaint handling  

Public engagement, including through citizen science, can 
deepen  knowledge  about  the  environment  and help  the 
authorities  in  their  work.  Germany  has  a  central  online 
platform,  Bürger  schaffen  Wissen 161  (citizens  create 
science),  which  is  funded  by  the  Ministry  for  Education 
and  Research  (German  Ministry  for  Education  and 
Research - BMBF) and has been established under a joint 
im  Dialog  and  the 
project 
Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Its main objective is to 
give  an  overview  of  citizen  science  projects  in  order  to 
illustrate  the  concept  of  citizen  science  and  so  raise 
public awareness of it. 

involving  Wissenschaft 

from 

to  complaints 

The availability of clear online information about how to 
make  a  complaint  is  an  indicator  of  how  responsive 
authorities  are 
the  public. 
Complaint-handling  in  Germany  is  decentralised,  with 
various  websites  providing  information.  A  particularly 
positive example is the Maerker Brandenburg website162, 
which  operates  as  a  one-stop  shop  for  complaints. 
Citizens  can  select  a  municipality  and write  a complaint, 
which  is  then  published  on  the  website,  along  with  the 
initial  response  and  the  eventual  solution.  A  traffic  light 
system  uses  red,  amber  and  green  markers  to  indicate 
the  stage  of  handling  the  complaint  has  reached.  The 
website is easy to access and navigate. 

Enforcement 

follow-ups, 

identifies  problems,  a  range  of 
When  monitoring 
responses  may  be  appropriate.  However,  the  Länder  do 
not  publish  online  activity  reports  on  administrative 
responses  to  detected  non-compliance  and  there  is  no 
recommendations  or 
information  on 
repeated  non-compliance.  Similarly,  no  information  is 
published  on responses to breaches of cross-compliance 
as  regards  nitrates  and  nature.  The  Federal  Statistical 
Office publishes annual reports on prosecutors’ activities 
and  the  prosecution  of  crimes,  including  environmental 
ones.  Waste  crimes  dominated  in  2016.  The  German 
Environment  Agency  has  carried  out  a  research  project 
on the status quo with regard to tackling environmental 
crime  as  well  as  on  opportunities  for  development  and 
will  take  up  again  special  reports  on  environmental 
crime. 

Tackling  waste,  wildlife  and  other  environmental  crimes 
is  especially  challenging  and  requires  close  cooperation 

160Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate 
Protection, North Rhine Westphalia. 
161 The Citizens Science Platform.  
162 Maerker Brandenburg. 

coordination 

customs 
and 
authorities,  police  and  prosecutors.  Two  Länder  were 
looked at: 

inspectors, 

between 

 

in  North  Rhine-Westphalia,  the  Ministry  of  Justice 
has  issued  decrees  on  cooperation  in  the  fight 
against environmental crime: 

o  between  the  prosecutor’s  office  and  the 

police163; and 

o  between  environmental  authorities, 
prosecutor’s office and the police164; and 

the 

  Lower  Saxony  has  issued  decrees  with  guidelines 

on: 

o  the 

investigation  of  environmental 

law 

violations165; and 

o  cooperation  between  prosecutors  and  the 
police in the investigation of organised crime, 
including in the environment sector166. 

Environmental liability 

The  Environmental  Liability  Directive  (ELD)  establishes  a 
framework  based  on  the  ‘polluter  pays’  principle  to 
prevent  and  remedy  environmental  damage.  The  2017 
EIR  focused  on  better  information  on  environmental 
damage, financial security and guidance. The Commission 
is still collecting evidence on progress. 

2019 priority actions 

  Inform the public better about compliance promotion, 
monitoring  and  enforcement,  at  least  by  ensuring  the 
availability to farmers of online information on how to 
comply with obligations on nitrates and nature. 

  Publish  more 

information  on 

the  outcomes  of 
administrative  enforcement  action  and  the  follow-up 
to  detected  breaches  of  cross-compliance  as  regards 
nitrates and nature. 

  Improve  financial  security  for 

liabilities  and  ELD-
guidance  and  publish  information  on  environmental 
damage. 

163 The Ministry of Justice, North Rhine-Westphalia, Richtlinie für die 
Zusammenarbeit von Staatsanwaltschaft und Polizei vom 01.08.1999. 
164 The Ministry of Justice, North Rhine-Westphalia Zusammenarbeit 
zwischen den Umweltschutzbehörden/Fachdienststellen und den 
Strafverfolgungsbehörden vom 20.06.1985. 
165Lower Saxony, Richtlinien für die Verfolgung und Ahndung von 
Zuwiderhandlungen gegen Bestimmungen des Umweltschutzes vom 
09.07.2018. 
166Lower Saxony, Richtlinie über die Zusammenarbeit von 
Staatsanwaltschaft und Polizei bei der Verfolgung der Organisierten 
Kriminalität vom 20.05.2016.  

30 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

Effectiveness 
administrations  

of 

environmental 

in 

involved 

implementing 

environmental 
Those 
legislation at EU, national, regional and local levels need 
to have the knowledge, tools and capacity to ensure that 
the  legislation  and  the  governance  of  the  enforcement 
process bring about the intended benefits. 

Administrative capacity and quality 

The  Bund  and  the  Länder  share  legislative  competence. 
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  in  the  absence  of  federal 
legislation.  In  practice,  most  environmental  legislation 
(especially as regards EU law) is adopted at national level 
and  implemented  by  the  Länder.  Land-level  legislation 
generally  supplements  national 
in 
determining which authorities are responsible.  

laws,  especially 

legislation 

the 
The  enforcement  of 
responsibility  of  the  Länder,  resulting 
in  different 
administrative  rules  and  practices  across  the  country. 
Also,  the  organisation  of  the  Länder  administrations 
tends to vary. 

is  mainly 

As legislative competence is divided between the federal 
level and the Länder, and implementation is spread over 
several  levels,  effective  cooperation  and  coordination  in 
a  system  of  multi-level  governance  is  crucial.  Several 
Bund/Länder  working  groups  have  been  established, 
industrial  emissions,  soil  protection,  nature 
e.g. on 
conservation, water management and chemical safety167. 

Germany  scores  84.26 
in  the  2016  Environmental 
Performance  Index  (which  ranks  countries’  performance 
on high-priority environmental issues), thus ranking 30th 
in the world and 20th in the EU168.  

Coordination and integration  

Environmental 

Impact  Assessment 

As  mentioned  in  the  2017  EIR,  the  transposition  of  the 
revised 
(EIA) 
Directive169 provides  an  opportunity  to  streamline  the 
regulatory  framework  on  environmental  assessments. 
Germany  was  late  in  transposing  the  Directive  and  the 
Commission 
to  submit  missing 
for 
information. 

is  waiting 

it 

streamlining 
The  Commission 
environmental  assessments  so  as  to  reduce  duplication 

favour  of 

in 

is 

167 For an overview, see: Umweltministerkonferenz  
168 YCELP, Global metrics for the environment, Environmental 
Performance Index, 2018. 
169 Directive 2014/52/EU. 

project. 

Streamlining 

and avoid overlaps between different assessments of the 
same 
reduce 
administrative  burden  and  accelerates  decision-making, 
without  compromising  the  quality  of  the  assessment 
procedure 170 .  Germany  has  streamlined  assessments 
under the EIA, Habitats and Water Framework Directives. 

helps 

to 

EIA 

the 

(SEA)  Directive 171  are 
level 

The  EIA  Directive  and  the  Strategic  Environmental 
implemented  at 
Assessment 
national 
Act 
through 
(Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungsgesetz).  The  EIA  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  permitting  procedure  for  projects. 
The  authority  responsible  for  approving  the  project  or 
plan  is  also  responsible  for  conducting  the  EIA  or  SEA. 
The  EIA  Act  requires  that  authority  to  consult  other 
authorities  as  part  of  the  EIA  or  SEA  procedure.  This 
involves  sending  information  on  the  project  or  plan  and 
the  environmental  report  to  all  affected  authorities  and 
collecting  their  assessment  of  the  project  or  plan.  The 
Länder  have  developed  their  own  rules  to  complement 
the  Act.  For  construction  planning,  the  relevant  rules 
Code 
in 
have 
(Baugesetzbuch). 

included 

Building 

been 

the 

Sustained  efforts  have  been  made 
to  centralise 
environmental  laws  in  a  single  Umweltgesetzbuch,  an 
important  element  of  which  would  have  been  the 
creation  of  a  single 
integrated  approval  procedure. 
However, these efforts have not been successful.  

Adaptability, 
(e-government) 

reform 

dynamics 

and 

innovation 

172

 has 

allowed 

Since  February  2003, 
the  Federal  Administrative 
electronic 
Procedure  Act
for 
communication and this option has been included in the 
VwVfGs of the 16 Länder. The Federal e-Government Act, 
as  adopted  in  2013,  requires  authorities  to  provide  for 
electronic  communication173.  The  Länder  have  adopted 
similar e-government acts. 

In  general,  Germany  is  lagging  behind  other  Member 
States 
in  the  practical  application  of  administrative 
electronic  services  as  regards  overall  digitalisation  and 
service  delivery  capacity  and  performance 174   175 .  As 
regards having a fully developed digital channel for public 
services, in the 2018 DESI Report Germany had a score of 

170 In 2016, the Commission issued a guidance document regarding the 
setting-up of coordinated and/or joint procedures that are 
simultaneously subject to assessments under the EIA, Habitats and 
Water Framework Directives and the IED (OJ C 273, 27.7.2016, p. 1). 
171 Directive 2001/42/EC. 
172 § 3a Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz. 
173 § 2 (1) E-Government-Gesetz. 
174 Bahrke, M. et al. (2016), eGovernment in Deutschland, p. 90. 
175 Wegrich, K. and Hammerschmid, G. (2017), Public administration 
characteristics in Germany, EUPACK study, p. 25. 

31 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

50 out of 100 on digital public services, lower than the EU 
average of 58176. 

Enabling financing and effective use of funds 

The  BMU  provides  comprehensive 
information  on 
environmental funding opportunities on its website177. In 
addition,  a  Federal  Government  web  portal  focuses  on 
research  funding  in  general  and  contains  a  dedicated 
section on environmental funding opportunities. 178  

The BMU also operates a web portal with information on 
the  national  climate  initiative  and  associated  funding 
opportunities.  In  this  context,  a  service  centre  (Service- 
und  Kompetenzzentrum:  Kommunaler  Klimaschutz, 
SK:KK)  helps  municipalities  to  initiate  and  implement 
municipal  climate  change  mitigation  (and,  to  some 
extent, adaptation) projects. 

Forests:  EU  Timber  Regulation  (EUTR)181 /  Forest  Law 
Enforcement,  Governance 
(FLEGT) 
Regulation182 

Trade 

and 

Germany  selects  a  number  of  operators  every  three 
months  for  checks, 
including  detailed  checking  of 
shipments.  Between  March  2015  and  February  2017,  it 
conducted 309 checks on operators importing timber – a 
relatively  low  proportion  of  the  estimated  25 000  such 
operators  in  Germany.  There  is  no  information  available 
on  the  number  of  checks  on  operators  that  placed 
domestic timber on the EU market.  

Germany  has  issued  fines,  confiscated  timber  and  sent 
formal requests for business operation plans to operators 
who  breached  the  EUTR,  in  particular  the  due  diligence 
requirement.  Operators  found  to  be  in  breach  of  the 
EUTR are subject to follow-up checks. 

The Länder administer EU regional and agricultural funds 
(together  with  the  European  Commission),  and  so 
provide  information  and  advice  on  funding.  Moreover, 
there are some coordinating mechanisms in place for the 
ESI Funds at federal level179.  

Germany  reported  on  cooperation  (Article  12  EUTR) 
among 
its  own  competent  authorities  and  with 
institutions  in  other  EU  countries,  mostly  as  regards 
participation  at  FLEGT/EUTR Expert Group meetings  and 
the Ad hoc Expert Group on FLEGT.  

2019 priority actions 

  Complete the transposition of the revised EIA Directive.  
  Germany can further improve its overall environmental 
governance (such as transparency, citizen engagement, 
compliance  and  enforcement,  further  streamlining  as 
well as on e-government ). 

International agreements  

The  EU  Treaties  require  the  EU  environmental  policy  to 
promote  measures  at  international  level  to  deal  with 
regional or worldwide environmental problems. 

The EU is committed to strengthening environmental law 
and its implementation globally. It therefore continues to 
support  the  Global  Pact  for  the  Environment  process, 
which  was  launched  by  the  United  Nations  General 
Assembly  in  May  2018180.  The  EIR  is  one  of  the  tools  to 
ensure  that  the  Member  States  set  a  good  example  by 
respecting  European  Union  environmental  policies  and 
laws and international agreements.  

Germany’s performance is among the best in the EU with 
regard to signing and ratifying multilateral environmental 
agreements.  

176 European Commission, Digital Economy and Society Index Report 
2018, Digital Public Services. 
177 Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit. 
178 Die Bundesregierung, Förderberatung des Bundes. 
179Netzwerk ländlicher Raum 
180 UN General Assembly Resolution 72/277 and Organizational session 
of the ad hoc open-ended working group.  

Genetic  resources:  Nagoya  Protocol  on  Access  to 
Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of 
Benefits Arising (ABS)183  

Germany  has  designated  its  competent  authorities  and 
enacted  sanctions  for  infringements  of  the  EU  ABS 
Regulation. It has submitted its due diligence declaration 
and  first  implementation  report  to  the  Commission.  In 
2018, Germany started its first compliance checks. It was 
the  first  EU  Member  State  to  receive  a  due  diligence 
declaration  and  the  first  country  worldwide  to  submit  a 
checkpoint communiqué to the ABS Clearing House. With 
regard  to  cooperation  (Article  12  EU  ABS  Regulation), 
for  exchange  of 
Germany 
competent 
implementation 
authorities in the EU. 

initiated  a  process 

experiences 

between 

International  wildlife 
the  Convention  on 
trade: 
International  Trade  in  Endangered  Species  of  Wild 
Fauna and Flora (CITES)184 

Germany has established relevant national authorities to 
process  (requests  for)  import,  (re-)export  and  intra-EU 
trade documents on a regular basis. Reports on seizures 
of illegal shipments, in particular those reported every six 
months  to  TRAFFIC  under 
its  contract  with  the 
Commission  and  those  exchanged  through  the  EU-TWIX 
the  customs 
platform, 
authorities. In order to ensure full implementation of the 

the  activity  of 

testify 

to 

181 Regulation (EU) No 995/2010.  
182 Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005. 
183 Regulation (EU) No 511/2014. 
184 The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 

32 

                                                                 
                                                                 
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Germany 

As  the  NSDS  is  the  Federal  Government’s  strategy,  it  is 
not  binding  on  the  Länder.  Nevertheless,  cooperation 
between 
levels  has  been  stepped  up 
significantly.  The  Länder  participated  in  the  consultation 
process for the 2012 and 2016 progress reports. 

two 

the 

While there are no specific funding programmes for SDG 
implementation, the BMU takes relevant action: 

  through its research plan, which allocates funds for 

research and development projects; and 

  by  funding  environmental  organisations,  climate 
sustainable 

education 

and 

for 

initiatives 
development.  

EU action plan against wildlife trafficking185, Germany has 
launched  capacity-building  activities 
in  support  of 
enforcement  agencies  in  non-EU  countries,  especially  in 
Africa  and  Asia.  Examples  include  the  establishment  of 
Africa Twix in Central Africa and financial contributions to 
the African Elephant Fund. 

Sustainable 
implementation of the UN SDGs 

development 

and 

the 

Sustainable development links environmental, social and 
economic policies in a coherent framework and therefore 
legislation  and 
helps  to 
policies. 

implement  environmental 

its 

Germany  adopted 
sustainable 
development strategy (NSDS) in 2002186 and has updated 
it on a regular basis, most recently in 2016 to align it with 
the SDGs187.  

first  national 

An evaluation of the strategy was launched immediately 
after  the  completion  of  an  international  peer  review  in 
2018.  The  review  was  coordinated  by  the  Council  for 
Sustainable Development (RNE), which is composed of 15 
members from different sectors, advises the government 
on  matters  of  sustainability  and  supports  sustainable 
development  by  recommending  fields  of  action  and 
projects188. 

to  a 

sustainability 

There  are  several  mechanisms  by  which  the  NSDS  feeds 
into public policymaking. The joint rules of procedure for 
federal ministries189 require the ministries to subject new 
impact  assessment.  A 
laws 
Sustainable 
Parliamentary  Advisory 
Government’s 
Development
sustainability  policies  and  makes  recommendations. 
Germany  publishes  regular  updates  and  indicators  on 
implementation of the SDGs191. 

 monitors 

Council 

the 

for 

190

National  implementation  of  the  UN  2030  Agenda  for 
Sustainable  Development  is  coordinated  by  the  Federal 
Chancellery  and  all  ministries  are  closely  involved.  In 
2016, Germany was one of the first four EU countries to 
submit  to  the  UN  a  voluntary  national  review  on  SDG 
implementation, which covers measures taken nationally 
and internationally192. 

185 European Commission, EU action plan against wildlife trafficking 
(COM(2016) 087). 
186 Federal Government, information about policies for sustainable 
development. 
187Federal Government (2017), Deutsche Nachhaltigkeitstrategie 
Neuauflage 2016. 
188 Rat für nachhaltige Entwicklung.  
189 § 44(1) Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der Bundesministerien. 
190 Parlamentarischer Beirat für nachhaltige Entwicklung. 
191 Destatis, Indikatoren der UN-Nachhaltigkeitsziele. 
192 UN, A voluntary national review on SDG implementation, Germany. 

33