If this ministry is in responsible within the Federal Government for dealing with a particular policy area, the bills it drafts, along with initiatives from the federal states on the same topics, are allocated to the Committee on the Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety, which is then in charge of examining the proposals. The committee is also involved in discussion of the issues if bills do not fall within the sphere of competence of the Environment Ministry but are nonetheless relevant to the policy areas it handles.
The committee examines the following specific topics:
- Combating climate change
- Renewable energies, other energy issues with environmental ramifications
- Immission control, particularly air pollution control and noise abatement
- Water and waste management
- Nature protection
- Safety of nuclear installations
- Chemical safety
In addition to examining proposed bills and ordinances (implementing regulations) within national legislation in these policy areas, the committee also considers a range of European Union proposals tabled in areas in which the EU devises environmental policy.