German Advisory Council on the Environment

Substantial reduction of nitrogen inputs needed

Date 2015.01.14

Excessive reactive nitrogen emissions into the environment pose a threat to human health, waters, biodiversity, and the climate. “Policymakers need to address this major environmental problem with greater effort than in the past. This applies to agricultural, transportation and energy policy. Hence a nitrogen strategy is needed,” says Prof. Karin Holm-Müller, deputy chair of the German Advisory Council on the Environment. The SRU today submitted its report titled “Nitrogen: strategies for resolving an urgent environmental problem” to German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks.

The environmental impact of reactive nitrogen is a problem whose importance is greatly underestimated. The issue is not only to avoid nitrogen input into drinking water: excessive nutrient inputs also have an extremely detrimental impact on biodiversity. For example, reduced flowering-plant diversity in fields and pastures reduces the food supply for bees and other pollinators. Eutrophication of the seas and oceans increases algae formation, one result of which is the foam seen on Baltic and North Sea beaches. Excessive concentrations of nitrogen oxide in ambient air are a health hazard, and nitrous oxide emissions contribute to climate change. These phenomena are mainly attributable to the use of agricultural fertilizers and the combustion of coal, oil and biomass.

Because of excessive concentrations of reactive nitrogen compounds in Germany’s air and water, Germany is failing to meet many of the requirements set forth in European regulations. Owing to excessive nitrate concentrations, some 27% of Germany’s groundwater bodies exhibit a poor chemical status; 48% of the country’s natural and semi-natural terrestrial ecosystems suffer from eutrophication (2009 figure); and the 40 μg/m3 long-term limit value for nitrogen dioxide in ambient air is exceeded at some 70% of locations in cities, which are strongly affected by vehicular traffic. “This is anything but an environmental vanguard role” notes SRU council member Prof. Heidi Foth. In the SRU’s view, if Germany is to meet current national and international quality objectives, nitrogen emissions will have to be reduced by at least 50%.

Hence, in the interest of endowing this issue with suitable political clout and making the public more aware of the problem, the SRU recommends that a nitrogen strategy be jointly developed by the federal government and Germany’s regional-state governments.

The SRU report contains more than 40 recommended measures. The current top priorities are as follows:

-        The to be amended version of the Fertilizer Regulation (Düngeverordnung), which implements the Nitrate directive in Germany, would regulate the use of digestate and liquid manure. It offers the chance to reduce nutrient spreading, and at the same time to roll back nitrate, ammonia and nitrogen oxide emissions. Hence it could promote clean air, clean water, and climate protection. While the December 2014 draft bill would be a major step forward, it would not be sufficient. For the fact remains that without rigorous controls and penalties, even the most stringent regulations will remain toothless.

-        Supplementing existing regulations by imposing an environmental tax on surplus nitrogen in the agricultural sector. The need to reduce nitrogen inputs is so pressing that economic incentives for further measures need buttressing.

-        Revitalization of EU clean air policies. It is absolutely essential that the originally proposed stricter reduction goals for ammonia and nitrogen oxide for 2030 not be abandoned. Hence in the SRU’s view, the European Commission’s decision to withdraw and postpone its own legislative proposals is both economically and ecologically shortsighted.

The summary report “Nitrogen: strategies for resolving an urgent environmental problem” can be downloaded from www.umweltrat.de. The full report titled “Lösungsstrategien für ein drängendes Umweltproblem” is only available in German.


For further information contact Dr. Christian Hey at +49 30 263696-0.

 

For over forty years the SRU has been advising the German Federal Government on environmental policy issues. The Council is made up of seven professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. This ensures an encompassing and independent evaluation from a natural scientific and technical point of view, as well as from an economic, legal, and political science perspective.

It currently has the following members:

Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Chair), Clausthal University of Technology

Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller (Deputy Chair), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Prof. Dr. Harald Bradke, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe

Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin

Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch, Goethe University of Frankfurt and Frankfurt Zoo

Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin

Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen, Luisenstraße 46, 10117 Berlin

phone: +49 30 263696-0, fax: +49 30 263696-109

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