Environment minister wants to prevent diesel driving bans

Germany’s new environment minister, Svenja Schulze, is against driving bans for diesel cars, website bild.de reports. Schulze said driving bans, aimed at curbing air pollution in inner cities, would not “make old diesel cars any cleaner”. Instead, she would like to see carmakers – some of which were responsible for “massive betrayal” – fund the hardware retrofitting of affected vehicles. Contrary to her predecessor, Barbara Hendricks, the new minister said she opposed the nationwide introduction of a “blue badge” to identify cleaner cars. Many municipalities are calling for this badge to prevent a patchwork of different methods to enforce air quality regulations. Schulze added that she wants to introduce a buyer’s premium for electric delivery vans to increase the share of e-vehicles on German roads.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW article New government gets little credit in quest to regain climate lead for more information.