Association of German Towns and Municipalities says diesel bans will worsen air pollution problem

Banning older diesel cars from inner cities will only worsen the air pollution problem and carbon emissions in the long run and should therefore be avoided as much as possible, Gerd Landsberg, head of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB), said in an article by the Rheinische Post. Diesel engines in many respects were still better from an environmental perspective than other combustion engines, he argued with a view to the latest driving bans announced to take effect 2019 in the two cities Cologne and Bonn. “The government urgently has to modify the federal emission law (BImschG) and ensure that driving bans are not introduced if limit values are not exceeded by more than ten microgrammes per cubic metre on the annual average,” Landsberg said, adding that this would prevent driving bans in up to 50 cities. If people swap diesel for petrol engines "we’ll soon be debating particulate matter and CO₂ emissions,” he said.

Find the article in German here.

For background, read the factsheet Diesel driving bans in Germany – The Q&A.