“Germany’s Stuttgart set to ban some diesel cars from city centre”

Stuttgart is the first German city to introduce a ban on older diesel cars to improve air quality. The home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche will ban diesel cars which do not meet the latest emissions standards from entering the city on days when pollution is heavy from 2018, reports Reuters. Only around ten percent of diesel cars in Germany conform with the EU’s latest “Euro 6” standard, which means they produce fewer nitrogen oxides and fine particle emissions, which cause respiratory disease.
Stuttgart has particularly serious air pollution problems compared to other German cities because it is in a valley. Authorities were ordered by a court to explain by the end of February their plans to bring air pollution below EU limits. The ban was agreed by the state government of Baden-Württemberg, of which Stuttgart is the capital. Green state premier Winfried Kretschmann said an agreement on diesel bans on the federal level would have been more effective to clear the air.

Find the Reuters report in English here.

Read the state government press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossiers The Energiewende and German carmakers and The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.