Seit mehreren Jahrzehnten ist die Umweltberichterstattung ein wichtiges Instrument für Unternehmen, um über die Auswirkungen ihres Handelns zu informieren. Die Entwicklung der letzten Jahre hat dazu geführt, dass die Umweltberichterstattung zu einem integrativen Bestandteil der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung geworden ist. Ein wichtiger Schritt in dieser Entwicklung war die Gründung der Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), die seit 2000 Richtlinien zur Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung für herausgibt. Gleichzeitig greifen eine Vielzahl von Unternehmen auf die GRI-Richtlinien zurück, was diese zu einem der besten Standards in diesem Bereich werden lässt. Nach den GRI-Richtlinien veröffentlichte Berichte sind in einer speziellen Datenbank des corporate register gesammelt. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht das Projekt im Allgemeinen den Stand der Berichterstattung nach GRI-Richtlinien, mit einem Schwerpunkt auf die Umweltleistung der Unternehmen. Im Besonderen wird der Umfang der Berichterstattung im Vergleich zu den von der GRI vorgeschlagenen Indikatoren (In welchem Umfang berichten die Unternehmen die vorgeschlagenen Indikatoren?) sowie deren Erfüllungsgrad betrachtet (In welchem Maße halten sich berichtende Unternehmen an die Vorgaben zur Berichterstattung der einzelnen Indikatoren?).
The final goal of the EUROWET project is to integrate the substantial multidisciplinary European research in wetlands to help attain the sustainable management of the water cycle. This will be achieved by the translation of state-of-the art science developed at both national and European levels, into practical guidance for end-users. This will be achieved by a comprehensive review, expert assessment and a focussed dissemination strategy. There is considerable scientific knowledge and technical experience gained in diverse aspects of wetland science and management including hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecology restoration, socio-economic and policy analysis. However the results of research and management experience are still too fragmentary and not sufficiently orientated to problem-solving or simply inadequately framed to be effectively transferred to, or used by, stakeholders and policy-makers. Simultaneously the general outcome of the scientific research has been increased awareness of the significance of wetlands in delivering goods and services important for human welfare including quality of life, biodiversity conservation and maintenance or enhancement of environment quality. Despite this wetlands continue to be degraded and lost throughout Europe without adequate consideration of the wider benefits to be achieved from this management. The new Water Framework Directive (WFD) promotes a unique opportunity to redress this problem by means of the holistic, integrated approach to water management. There is currently in preparation horizontal guidance on Wetlands as part of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) process. There is however work still to be done on providing more specific scientific and technical guidance on the effective implementation of the Directive with respect to wetlands. This is particularly the case in relation to Integrated River Management, the CIS cluster within which wetlands are being considered in the WFD.
CULT-STRAT will establish a scientific reference for developing strategies for policy and decision-makers on European and national levels within the CAFE Programme and for heritage managers for strategic decisions at local level. It will do this through a choice of material indicators and pollution threshold levels based on best available scientific data including deterioration models, spatial distribution and mapping of pollutants and of stock of materials at risk, cost estimates, comparison studies off different conservation approaches. Damage caused to objects of cultural heritage belongs to the most serious among the detrimental effects of anthropogenic air pollutants as it endangers a vital part of the European identity. There is therefore an urgent need to include the impact of pollutants on cultural heritage alongside the human health and parts of the ecosystem that are already concerned in the EU Directives on urban air quality. This is especially relevant for the CAFE (Clean Air for Europe) programme of the Commission and the Community interventions through the 'Culture 2000' framework programme and the structural funds. The overall aim is to identify material indicators and threshold levels of pollutants to be used for development of strategies for sustainable maintenance and preventive conservation of European cultural heritage and air quality policy to reduce damage. The models will permit ranking of the effects of pollutants on corrosion and soiling of materials. The air pollution models will be related to local fluxes, including indoor concentrations. The stock of cultural heritage materials at risk in selected areas (Paris, Rome, Florence, Prague, Madrid, and Berlin) will be used for assessment and mapping of areas where cultural heritage objects are endangered. Prime Contractor: Korrosionsinstitutet Sci AB, R&D Department Atmospheric Corrosion, Stockholm SE.
LEnSE is a research project that responds to the growing need in Europe for assessing a building's sustainability performance. The project draws on the existing knowledge available in Europe on building assessment methodologies. LEnSE aims to develop a truly holistic methodology that addresses the overall, integrating concept of sustainability. The main objective of LEnSE is to develop a methodology for the assessment of the sustainability performance of existing, new and renovated buildings, which is broadly accepted by the European stakeholders involved in sustainable construction. This methodology will allow for future labelling of buildings, in analogy with the Energy Performance Directive. The work should result in increased awareness of the European stakeholders and will allow adequate policy implementation on sustainable construction. The project consists of three main themes. The first theme is the identification and scope of the issues which need to be included in a sustainability assessment. This has to be wide enough to be acceptable and limited enough to be practicable. A broad consensus on these issues will be reached through strategic consultation of the relevant stakeholders. The second theme is the actual development of the assessment methodology. The content of the assessment will be developed for a limited, but representative range of key issues. Guidelines on how to address local variations will be provided. This work will be validated by the development of a prototype tool and tested on case study buildings. The key stakeholders on the European and national level will be highly involved in the development of the methodology, to guarantee a wide acceptance and implementation of the project results. These consultations will include national meetings with stakeholders and trans-national expert workshops. Thematic -stepping stone- publications, will serve as strategic reference and discussion documents for the stakeholder consultation rounds. Prime Contractor: Centre Scientifique et Technique de la Construction; Bruxelles; Belgium.
The Commission proposal of Groundwater Directive COM(2003)550 developed under Article 17 of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) sets out criteria for the assessment of the chemical status of groundwater, which is based on existing Community quality standards (nitrates, pesticides and biocides) and on the requirement for Member States to identify pollutants and threshold values that are representative of groundwater bodies found as being at risk, in accordance with the analysis of pressures and impacts carried out under the WFD. In the light of the above, the objectives of BRIDGE are: i) to study and gather scientific outputs which could be used to set out criteria for the assessment of the chemical status of groundwater, ii) to derive a plausible general approach, how to structure relevant criteria appropriately with the aim to set representative groundwater threshold values scientifically sound and defined at national river basin district or groundwater body level, iii) to check the applicability and validity by means of case studies at European scale, iv) to undertake additional research studies to complete the available data, v) and to carry out an environmental impact assessment taking into account the economic and social impacts. The project shall be carried out at European level, involving a range of stakeholders and efficiently linking the scientific and policy-making communities. Considering the requirement of the diary of the Groundwater Daughter Directive proposal, which implies that groundwater pollutants and related threshold values should be identified before December 2005 and listed by June 2006, the duration of the project should be 24 months. In that way the proposed research will contribute to provide research elements that will be indispensable for preparing discussions on further steps of the future Groundwater Directive. Prime Contractor: Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres, Service Analyse et Caracterisation Minerale, Paris FR
The working documents on revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive (86/278/EEC) on Biowaste and the Soil Protection Communication call for standards on sampling and analysis of sludge, treated biowastes and soils. The European Directives are intended to prevent unacceptable release of contaminants, impairment of soil function, or exposure to pathogens, and to protect crops, human and animal health, the quality of water and the wider environment when sludges and treated biowastes are used on land. The EU animal by-product regulations are fixing microbiological threshold values, for which microbiological methods of analysis are needed. The European Commission wishes to cite European (CEN) standards in order that there is harmonised application of the directives and that reports from Member States (MS) can be compared. This project to develop standards for hygienic parameters in sludge, soil and biowaste, presented under the name 'HORIZONTAL-HYG', will be carried out under the umbrella of the main project HORIZONTAL 'Development of horizontal standards for soil, sludge and biowaste'. This ensures full integration in the CEN system through BT Task Force 151 specially set up in support of this project as well as direct supervision by DG ENV and MS, which form the Steering Committee of HORIZONTAL. Preparation of HORIZONTAL-HYG was taken in a full agreement with the DG ENV, DG JRC and the MS already contributing to HORIZONTAL. HORIZONTAL-HYG's objective is to produce standardised methods for sampling and hygienic microbiological parameters, as Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, Ascaris ova in sludges, treated biowastes and soils written in CEN format. Validation of the methods is an essential part of the development as it quantifies performance in terms of repeatability and reproducibility. The consortium is well connected in CEN and ISO and thus provides an excellent basis for implementation of the deliverables. Prime Contractor: Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland; Petten, Netherlands.
The project aims at supporting the implementation of the proposed Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from the extractive industries 2003/0107. The Directive was prepared following several major accidents with a serious impact on the environment, and it has the purpose of ensuring a safer management of the mining waste facilities, so that such accidents will not occur in the future. This project addresses particularly Article 9, which provides for the classification of waste facilities with respect to the possible consequences of an accident, and respectively the Annex II: Characterisation of mining waste and Annex III: Criteria for the classification of waste facilities. The activities of the project are divided into four major work packages as follows: - Preparation of a Methodology for the Characterisation of Mining Waste - Elaboration of a Risk Assessment Methodology for the Classification of Mining Waste Facilities, including Old/Abandoned Mining Waste Facilities - Review of Techniques for the Prevention and Abatement of Pollution Generated by Mining Wastes - Development of a Decision Support Tool for Minimising the Impact of the Mining Industry on the Environment. The Consortium co-ordinated by BIUTEC, Austria, includes universities, research institutes, NGOs and implementing authorities from 8 European countries, both Members of the EU and accession countries. The experts team is highly qualified and has many years of experience and research in this area, so that the best outputs can be obtained. The project will build on the results of other projects carried out in this field, and will relate closely to on-going projects, so that there is no overlap in our activities. In order to provide an effective tool for the potential beneficiaries, the project team will consult with representatives of the stakeholders before the final versions of the outputs are publicly made available on the project web-site.
Objectives: The EU Air Quality Directives include air pollutant dispersion models as instruments of environmental politics. The quality of the models needs to be guaranteed. One part of the control process is the validation, a comparison of the modelled results with especially designed and acquired, trustworthy reference data sets from field and wind tunnel experiments. Activities: Air pollutants and meteorological parameters are measured continuously by in situ stations at different sites within Goettinger street in Hanover and its vicinity. Apart from these long-term measurements three intensive measurement campaigns are planned with additional tracer experiments. In August 2001 and August 2002 tracer experiments have been executed. A line source consisting of 8 pipe sections with a total length of about 96 m has been installed on the median of Goettinger Strasse. A mixture of the tracer gas SF6 and air, monitored by flow controllers, has been released from openings regularely spaced along the pipes. The source has been operated with a sufficient overpressure to avoid a feedback of external pressure fluctuations on the source strength and distribution. At 12 positions within the street canyon and on the roof of a nearby building, air samples have been collected simultaneously for at least 5 hours. Every 30 minutes a sampling bag has been started to be filled by the sampling equipment at each position. Afterwards, the 30 minutes averaged samples have been analysed on SF6 in the laboratory. Results: The experimental layout had been tested in August 2001. With minor reservations it also passed the second measurement campaign in August 2002 successful. The results of both campaigns exist now. As far as they have been scrutinized they show plausible distributions of the concentrations in the street area such as the typical windward-leeward-effect for street canyons. The influence of traffic induced turbulence and advection of the concentration field along the street by the traffic seems to be significant because the concentration field is shifted according to the direction of the motion of the traffic. Further measurements will be carried out in October 2002 and March 2003 to test and to corroborate that hypothesis and to complete the validation data set.
Im Auftrag des baden-württembergischen Ministeriums für Umwelt und Verkehr wurde der Direktivenentwurf der Europäischen Kommission zur Implementierung eines EU-weiten Emissionshandels (COM(2001) 581) analysiert. Dabei wurde auf folgende Punkte eingegangen: Allokation/Erstvergabe, Freiwilligkeit versus obligatorische Teilnahme und Öffnungsklauseln, projektbasierte Instrumente, Berücksichtigung weiterer Treibhausgase, Regulierungsüberlagerungen sowie Einbeziehung des Stromersektors. Der Entwurf ist zeitlich adäquat in den durch das Kioto-Protokoll vorgegebenen internationalen Rahmen eingepasst. Wie das Protokoll sieht der Vorschlag ab dem Jahr 2008 fünfjährige Budgetperioden vor. Der Richtlinienvorschlag strebt einen Kompromiss zwischen den vier - zum Teil konkurrierenden - Kriterien Einfachheit, Effektivität, Subsidiarität und Transparenz an. Aufgrund des sich erst langsam abzeichnenden internationalen Rahmens und der Vielfalt unterschiedlichster involvierter Interessen ist dies eine erhebliche Aufgabe, deren Bewältigung in weiten Teilen als geglückt angesehen werden kann. Als wichtige Ergänzungsvorschläge zum vorliegenden Entwurf sind herausgefiltert worden: 1) Konkretisierung von Annex III: Die Kriterien für die nationalen Allokationspläne sind sehr allgemein gehalten. Insgesamt erscheint das Verhältnis zwischen Subsidiarität und Transparenz an diesem Punkt zulasten der Transparenz nicht ganz ausgewogen. Hinsichtlich der Anrechnung frühzeitiger Vermeidungsleistungen könnte der Kriterienkatalog z. B. dahingehend konkretisiert werden, dass von der Kommission der Zeitraum eingegrenzt wird, auf den sich die Zuteilung bezieht, und bestimmte Anforderungen an die verfügbaren Daten bzw. Verfahren für die Festlegung der Werte im Falle fehlender Daten gestellt werden. Die Einbeziehung von Neuemittenten wurde ebenfalls weitestgehend offen gelassen. Die Anwendung von EU-weiten Benchmarks (einheitliche Emissionsfaktoren) würde die Spielräume für potenzielle Wettbewerbsverzerrungen einschränken und eine bessere Planungssicherheit für die betroffenen Unternehmen gewährleisten. 2) Berücksichtigung von Stromerzeugung aus Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung (KWK): Der gegenwärtige Richtlinienentwurf kann zu einer Verschlechterung der Wettbewerbsposition von KWK-Anlagen auf dem Wärmemarkt führen, da sie dort möglicherweise mit Angeboten konkurrieren, die nicht vom Emissionshandelssystem erfasst sind (z. B. gasbefeuerte Brennwertkessel). Deshalb sollte der Richtlinienentwurf hinsichtlich der Erfassung von KWK-Anlagen angepasst werden. Denkbar wäre etwa, dass der Anteil des Brennstoffs in KWK-Anlagen, der zur Erzeugung von Fernwärme eingesetzt wird, von der Nachweisverpflichtung für Emissionszertifikate befreit wird.
Von den Triazol-Fungiziden und dem Imidazol-Fungizid Prochloraz ist bekannt, dass sie in Ratten u.a. hepatotoxisch wirken. Am Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung wird zurzeit untersucht, inwieweit die Behandlung von Ratten mit Fungizid-Gemischen, bestehend aus den o.g. Verbindungen, zu einer additiven bzw. synergistischen hepatotoxischen Wirkung führen kann. Die im Rahmen dieses Projektes geplanten Experimente sollen zeigen, ob die Kombination der o.g. Fungizide additive oder synergistische Veränderungen im Transkriptom, Proteom und/oder Metabolom der Humanleberzelllinie HepaRG hervorrufen kann und ob die Zellen die Auswirkungen in Ratten richtig widerspiegeln. 1) Die HepaRG-Zellen mit Triazolen und Prochloraz einzeln und kombiniert in verschiedenen nicht-zytotoxischen Konzentrationen inkubieren; 2) nach jeder Inkubation RNA und Proteine aus den Zellen für die weiterführenden Analysen isolieren; 3) in Kooperation mit dem Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung quantitative RT-PCR- sowie low-density-PCR-Array-Analysen durchführen; 4) in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Center for Biotechnology der Universität Bielefeld das Transkriptom, Proteom und Metabolom der behandelten Zellen analysieren.
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