German Advisory Council on the Environment

Taking environmental limits seriously: The need to reshape environmental policy

Date 2012.06.04

"Unlimited growth is not possible in a finite world.” With these words, Prof Martin Faulstich, Chair of the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU), hands over the SRU’s Environmental Report 2012 to the new Environment Minister Peter Altmaier. “This means that the dramatic reduction of our resource and energy use and their environmental impacts are becoming a key question of the 21st century” says Prof Faulstich. The report entitled “Responsibility in a finite world” has eleven focal themes[1], ranging from the new growth debate, the protection of important ecosystems such as peatlands, forests and oceans to a strengthening of integrated environmental protection.

With its Environmental Report 2012, the SRU extends the perspective beyond the energy transition towards other important future-oriented issues in German and European environmental policy. Using a “horizon scanning” approach, the seven members of the SRU identify important unresolved problems and point towards specific options for political action. The starting point of the report is that serious impacts for economy and society have to be feared if environmental limits are being exceeded. Exploiting all potential for decoupling economic growth and environmental impact is therefore a matter of priority. Such an innovation strategy would offer at the same time considerable economic opportunities for German industry.

Analysing a number of intractable problems, the SRU highlights the potential for a reduction of environmental impacts, for example:

- The use of metallic and mineral raw materials can be reduced, for example through systematic introduction of closed-loop processes. The SRU proposes in this context mandatory deposit schemes for selected electronic devices. Raw material extraction – which tends to be very energy intensive – could become more climate-friendly if ambitious reduction targets are set for the European emissions trading system (the EU 30% target for 2020) and if exemptions are cut back.

- Even the still growing goods transport could meet ambitious climate policy targets through a comprehensive electrification on the basis of renewable electricity. In addition to a shift from road to rail, the option of an overhead-cable system for electric-powered HGVs (“trolley trucks”) should be seriously pursued. The technology has already been tested in demonstration projects.

- In the area of food, policy should also provide effective incentives for decoupling. Bringing down food losses by 50% until 2025 could decrease the environmental impact of our food consumption. Moreover, the high meat consumption which has equally negative impacts on the environment and on health, should be significantly reduced. Abolishing the reduced rate of value-added tax on animal products and introducing a tax on saturated fatty acids are therefore options to be investigated.

Despite this large untapped potential, a sufficient degree of decoupling may not be achieved. As part of a precautionary strategy, policy and society should therefore also reflect on conditions of social and political stability under conditions of low economic growth.

Ecosystems such as forests, oceans and peatlands not only supply important resources, energy and food, but they also make important contributions to climate protection and provide other ecosystem services, including habitats for many species. These services, which are not rewarded by the market, are under threat unless economic pressures are reduced. German forests, for example, may soon reach a point where they release more greenhouse gases than they store. For this reason the SRU recommends introducing limits on forest biomass use to secure the long-term status of forests as carbon sinks. In addition, a comprehensive and integrated monitoring should be established as an early warning and evaluation system.

Environmental limits can only be observed if the remit and authority of environmental policy vis-a-vis other policy areas are considerably strengthened. As a basis for this, the SRU recommends the establishment of an encompassing national environment programme with ambitious targets which would give a new impetus to other policy areas.

[1] The Environmental Report covers eleven topics: the new growth debate, decoupling prosperity from resource use: metallic and mineral resources, food consumption as a policy issue, freight transport and climate protection, mobility and quality of life in urban agglomerations; appreciating the value of ecosystem services: environmentally sound use of forests; peatlands as carbon sinks, cross-sectoral marine protection; reinforcing integrative approaches: Integrated environmental protection: the example of industrial permitting, integrated monitoring, environmental and sustainability strategies.

--------------------------------------------

The Environmental Report 2012 “Responsibility in a finite world” can be downloaded electronically at www.umweltrat.de/EN or ordered free of charge at the SRU secretariat. The summary and selected chapters are available in English: http://www.umweltrat.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/01_Environmental_Reports/2012_05_Environmental_Report_summary.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

For further information, please contact Dr. Christian Hey on +49 (0)30-26 36 96-0. 

The Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) has been advising the German government for 40 years. The Council is made up of seven university professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. This ensures an encompassing and independent evaluation from a natural scientific and technical as well as from an economic, legal, and political science perspective. The Council has currently the following members:

 

•              Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Vorsitzender), Technische Universität München 

•              Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth (stellv. Vorsitzende), Universität Halle-Wittenberg 

•              Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin 

•              Prof. Dr. Olav Hohmeyer, Universität Flensburg 

•              Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn 

•              Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Zoologischer Garten Frankfurt 

•              Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin

 

Use of cookies

Cookies help us to provide our services. By using our website you agree that we can use cookies. Read more about our Privacy Policy and visit the following link: Privacy Policy

OK