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7B - Sustainable development indicators (TH7/3) Is the current emission load of toxic substances in Europe sustainable? - An analysis for Germany. Bachmann, Till1, Droste-Franke, Bert1, Friedrich, Rainer1, 1 University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany ABSTRACT- The GreenSense project (funded by the European Commission - DG research; project number: EVG1-2000-00022) deals with the development and a first application of a Green Accounting framework for Europe. The framework includes two parts, the first aims at effects on current wellbeing and the second addresses sustainability issues. Two types of sustainability concepts are considered to be important in the context of the dispersion of toxic substances., the 'political achievable sustainability' and 'strong sustainability' approach. While in the first sustainability means meeting standards which are set by policy, the second aims on meeting standards which are defined in order to prevent significant harmful effects on the environment and human health. One major step in the analysis is to assess if the current load of toxic emissions to the environment leads to an exceedance of sustainability standards in the long term. A pan-European multimedia framework consisting of a regional air quality model (WTM; backward trajectory model on EMEP 50x50 km grid) and a watershed based multi-zonal soil and water model (WATSON; corresponding to level III/IV of Mackay's multi-media model typology) is used for the analysis. As an example, results will be presented for Germany. European-wide emissions to air and emissions to water taking place in Germany will be taken into account. It will be discussed whether the values of the sustainability indicators will be exceeded in Germany and if so where and when this will occur assuming constant emission levels. Key words: green accounting, sustainability, multi-media modelling, toxic substances |
