German Court Rules Cities Can Ban Vehicles to Tackle Air Pollution
- 6 years ago
German Court Rules Cities Can Ban Vehicles to Tackle Air Pollution
“These vehicles have no place in our cities anymore.”
Before the ruling, he had drawn parallels to the tobacco industry, which “for decades trivialized
facts about the damaging effects of smoke to health, despite studies to the contrary.”
Mr. Resch said he expected the first bans to be enacted in the fall in German cities where pollution levels are highest.
BERLIN — Germany’s highest administrative court ruled on Tuesday
that vehicles can be banned from some city streets as part of efforts to improve air quality in urban areas, in a case that could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s automakers and the diesel technology they promoted for decades.
Frustrated with the lack of progress in improving air quality in about 70 of the country’s most polluted cities, Deutsche Umwelthilfe brought lawsuits against the local governments, demanding
that they uphold the air quality standards set by the European Union and ban certain vehicles, mostly ones that use diesel.
The case before the Federal Administrative Court has dominated public discussion in Germany
because of its potential to deal a severe blow to the country’s auto industry three years after it was found to have lied about the pollution levels emitted by its cherished diesel technology.
The ruling allowing such bans — already popular among Germany’s European neighbors — could open
the floodgates, allowing for a raft of new measures in other cities across the country.
In 2016, a lower court in Stuttgart ruled in favor of Deutsche Umwelthilfe’s argument
that the only way to effectively drop the levels of nitrogen oxide gasses in urban areas was to keep those vehicles responsible for the pollution, most of them diesels, off the streets.
“These vehicles have no place in our cities anymore.”
Before the ruling, he had drawn parallels to the tobacco industry, which “for decades trivialized
facts about the damaging effects of smoke to health, despite studies to the contrary.”
Mr. Resch said he expected the first bans to be enacted in the fall in German cities where pollution levels are highest.
BERLIN — Germany’s highest administrative court ruled on Tuesday
that vehicles can be banned from some city streets as part of efforts to improve air quality in urban areas, in a case that could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s automakers and the diesel technology they promoted for decades.
Frustrated with the lack of progress in improving air quality in about 70 of the country’s most polluted cities, Deutsche Umwelthilfe brought lawsuits against the local governments, demanding
that they uphold the air quality standards set by the European Union and ban certain vehicles, mostly ones that use diesel.
The case before the Federal Administrative Court has dominated public discussion in Germany
because of its potential to deal a severe blow to the country’s auto industry three years after it was found to have lied about the pollution levels emitted by its cherished diesel technology.
The ruling allowing such bans — already popular among Germany’s European neighbors — could open
the floodgates, allowing for a raft of new measures in other cities across the country.
In 2016, a lower court in Stuttgart ruled in favor of Deutsche Umwelthilfe’s argument
that the only way to effectively drop the levels of nitrogen oxide gasses in urban areas was to keep those vehicles responsible for the pollution, most of them diesels, off the streets.