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AbstractAdvanced materials, and nanomaterials, are promising for healthcare applications and are in particular in the spotlight of medical innovation since rapidly developed nano-formulated vaccines provide relief in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Further increased rapid growth is to be expected as more and more products are in development and reach the market, beneficial for human health. However, the human body is not a dead end and these products are likely to enter the environment, whereas their fate and effects in the environment are unknown. This part of the life-cycle of advanced medicinal products tends to be overlooked, if the perspective is human-centered and excludes the connectedness of human activity with, and consequences for our environment. Gaps are reviewed that exist in awareness, perspective taking, inclusion of environmental concerns into research and product development and also in available methodologies and regulatory guidance. To bridge these gaps, possible ways forward start to emerge, that could help to find a more integrative way of assessing human and environmental safety for advanced material medicinal products and nanomedicines.

The position paper discusses the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the global economy and geopolitics, for the countries of the Global South and for international environmental and sustainability policy. On this basis, the paper proposes approaches for a substantive reorientation of international environmental and sustainability policy. For example, the nexus of environment and health should be given more attention and the resilience of economic and social systems should be established as a requirement. Measures are needed to deal with the current pandemic, to prevent further pandemics and to further develop international environmental and sustainability policy.

Das Positionspapier erläutert die Folgen der Corona-Pandemie für die Weltwirtschaft und die Geopolitik, für die Länder des globalen Südens sowie für die internationale Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitspolitik. Auf dieser Grundlage werden Ansätze zur inhaltlichen Neuausrichtung der internationalen Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitspolitik vorgeschlagen. So soll etwa der Nexus von Umwelt und Gesundheit mehr Beachtung finden und die Resilienz der wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Systeme als eine Anforderung etabliert werden. Maßnahmen sind erforderlich zum Umgang mit der aktuellen Pandemie, zur Vermeidung weiterer Pandemien sowie zur Fortentwicklung der internationalen Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitspolitik.

The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly and fiercely changed social life around the world. Besides the diverse, in part drastic negative consequences, the crisis has also produced situations and pictures that seem utopian in "normal" times. Some of these impacts will soon fade away, others are very likely to continue in the longer term. The pandemic has thus changed the social context for environmental action. Against this background, this discussion paper deals with the following two questions: Which social impacts of the pandemic are relevant for environmental policy? And how should environmental policy react to these changes?

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat das gesellschaftliche Leben plötzlich und heftig verändert. Neben den vielfältigen, teilweise gravierenden negativen Folgen der Pandemie hat die Krise auch Situationen und Bilder erzeugt, die in "normalen" Zeiten utopisch erscheinen. Einige der Folgen werden sich verflüchtigen, andere sehr wahrscheinlich längerfristig in die Zukunft hineinwirken. Die Pandemie hat dadurch den sozialen Kontext für umweltpolitisches Handeln verändert. Vor diesem Hintergrund geht dieser Diskussionsbeitrag zwei Fragen nach: Welche gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Pandemie sind umweltpolitisch relevant? Und wie könnten und sollten umweltpolitische Akteure darauf reagieren?

This report summarizes the contents and outcomes of the Scientific Stakeholder Meeting on Nanomaterials in the Environment which took place on the 10th and 11th October 2017 at the headquarters of the German Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau-Rosslau, Germany. The meeting was hosted by UBA and financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. The meeting focused on regulatory relevant results of German and European research projects on nanomaterials in the environment which are carried out or finalised in the current years. By this, it gave a forum to present the state of the knowledge on environmental nanosafety in a regulatory context as well as to discuss the scientific results and their regulatory relevance between affected stakeholders. Therefore, the meeting particularly addressed representatives of science, industry, risk assessors, regulatory experts, and NGOs. It included key note talks, invited platform presentations as well as poster presentations. A Knowledge Café provided the opportunity to discuss selected topics with regard to environmental safety of nanomaterials in smaller groups. The meeting was closed with a discussion on the lessons learned highlighting the outcomes of the meeting by the views of different stakeholders.

The project "Thematic Conferences on Advanced Materials" aimed at supporting the German Authorities in structuring the field of advanced materials and identifying work priorities related to chemical safety. In the first part of the project, information on advanced materials was gathered via an extensive literature review, an online expert survey and expert interviews. In a second part, three international conferences were organised, of which one was separated into two online events, to invite stakeholders in the field to reflect on the research outcomes and involve in a discussion about chemical safety of advanced materials. Overall, the project initiated discussions about advanced materials at global, EU and national level and promoted an active reflection on the potential safety challenges and sustainability, amongst others due to lack of data, methods and coverage of advanced materials in current regulation. The report provides an overview of the work process and summarises the main discussion issues at the conferences.

Advanced materials promise technical solutions to support sustainable transformation. They play an important role for a variety of environmental topics worked on at ⁠UBA⁠, such as energy transition, circular economy and chemical safety. Various sectors can benefit from the use of advanced materials, but they can also face challenges. The UBA position paper describes the area of tension between the promising use and possible challenges for environmental and health protection and other sustainability dimensions, illustrates this with various examples and derives corner stones for a safe and sustainable life cycle of advanced materials.

Neuartige Materialen versprechen technische Lösungen zur Unterstützung der nachhaltigen Transformation. Sie spielen eine wichtige Rolle für eine Vielzahl der am ⁠UBA⁠ bearbeiteten Umweltthemen wie beispielsweise die Energiewende, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Chemikaliensicherheit. Dabei können die verschiedenen Bereiche durch den Einsatz neuartiger Materialien profitieren, aber auch vor Herausforderungen gestellt werden. Das UBA-Positionspapier beschreibt das Spannungsfeld zwischen dem vielversprechenden Einsatz und möglichen Herausforderungen für den Umwelt- und Gesundheitsschutz und anderen Nachhaltigkeitsdimensionen, verdeutlicht dies an verschiedenen Beispielen und leitet Eckpunkte für ein sicheren und nachhaltigen Lebenszyklus von neuartigen Materialien ab.

The project activities described in this report comprise a literature review, expert interviews, an online survey, desk research on relevance criteria and the organisation of the first of three thematic conferences that will take place in the context of this project. Based on the gathered information and experiences, advanced materials were clustered into different groups. Each group was characterised in form of factsheets. At the first conference, clustering approaches were discussed as well as the need to "define" advanced materials and aspects of including safety considerations into material design. A number of advanced material types were identified that could be of relevance with regard to chemical safety. This could, for example, be due to indications of hazards and risks that might require adequate risk management or due to insufficient regulatory coverage or missing risk assessment methods and tools. This report summarises the results of the project's first work package. It is discussion input to two further thematic conferences of the project as well as to discussions on approaches to cluster, describe and prioritize advanced materials in other contexts.