Climatiq
source

UBA

733 Factors733 Factor
1 Region1 Region
331 Activities331 Activity

About UBA

The Umweltbundesamt (UBA) is the Federal Environment Agency of Germany and is responsible for promoting sustainable development through scientific research, providing advice on a wide range of environmental issues to the government, businesses, organisations, and the public. The UBA reports emission factors for electricity, fuel, and transport among others.

Visit UBA website

Datasets from UBA

ProBas
Entwicklung der spezifischen Treibhausgas-Emissionen des deutschen Strommix in den Jahren 1990 - 2025
Liste mit Emissionsfaktoren für die Treibhausgasbilanzierung von Organisationen V2.0
Liste mit Emissionsfaktoren für die Treibhausgasbilanzierung von Organisationen V2.1
Emissionsbilanz erneuerbarer Energietraeger
CO2 Emission Factors for Fossil Fuels Update 2022
DATASET

ProBas

PropertyValue
Description
The Umweltbundesamt (UBA) is the Federal Environment Agency of Germany and is responsible for promoting sustainable development through scientific research, providing advice on a wide range of environmental issues to the government, businesses, organisations, and the public. The UBA reports emission factors for electricity, fuel, and transport among others.
Source type
Governmental
Original dataset URLURL
Year released
2020
Geography
Germany
Sector
Type of data
Activity-based
Emission results
CO2e
Data Transformation
NA

License

PropertyValue
Type of license
Not specified
License URL
Not specified

Data quality

PropertyValue
Data quality assurance
Vetted by Climatiq. For further information on data quality assurance, see: https://www.climatiq.io/methodology#Data-Quality
Quality flag(s)
NA

Methodology

PropertyValue
Standard
ISO 14040 ISO 14044
IPCC AR method
  • AR4
LCA boundary
  • fuel_combustion
  • upstream-electricity_consumption
  • upstream-fuel_combustion
Scope applicability
  • 3.4
  • 3.6
  • 3.7
  • 3.9
Emissions breakdown
  • Total (CO2e, AR4)
Methodology description

This dataset is derived from the Umweltbundesamt PROBAS (Process Database for Environmental Management Systems) database and provides emission intensities for a wide range of transport modes based on 2020 data. It includes passenger and freight transport across air, rail, road, and maritime sectors, covering various vehicle types, fuels, and technologies (e.g., diesel, petrol, CNG, electric, hydrogen, and hybrid vehicles).

The emission factors are based on process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) modelling, aligned with international standards such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, and are derived from German-specific data, scientifically vetted sources from the literature, and established environmental modelling approaches.

It seems that most data include both upstream emissions and direct emissions from fuel combustion or electricity use, but system boundaries vary by process.

For electric transport modes, emission factors include electricity consumption and associated upstream emissions, while for some fuel types only combustion emissions are included where specified. Aviation emission factors include upstream and combustion-related emissions.

The emission intensities are aligned with German environmental reporting practices, ensuring consistency and comparability across transport-related emission estimates.

Limitation / key issues to note

System boundaries vary across processes, as some emission factors include full life cycle impacts (upstream and use phase) while others account for combustion emissions only, which may affect comparability between transport modes and fuel types.

In addition, detailed transparency on underlying assumptions and data sources is not always provided at the process level.

For aviation, no explicit information is given on the inclusion of non-CO2 effects such as radiative forcing (e.g., contrails and high-altitude emissions), which may lead to an underestimation of total climate impacts.

The data are based on 2020 conditions and reflect average German or representative transport processes, and therefore may not fully capture recent technological developments and current operating conditions.

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