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| Environmental activists, seen here last week in front of Germany's Federal Administrative Court, have won a major ruling that will allow cities to impose bans on older, more polluting diesel vehicles in order to combat air pollution. (AFP Photo/Sebastian Willnow) |
Leipzig
(Germany) (AFP) - A top German court on Tuesday ruled that cities can impose
diesel driving bans to combat air pollution, a landmark decision that plunges
millions of car owners into uncertainty.
The Federal
Administrative Court in Leipzig found that local authorities can legally ban
older, dirty diesels from certain zones as part of their efforts to improve air
quality -- a drastic move that could reshape inner-city travel and upend the
auto industry.
The court
did not impose any bans itself, leaving that up to city and municipal
authorities.
The judges
did however urge them to "exercise proportionality" and said any
curbs should be introduced gradually and allow for certain exemptions.
While the
legal battle centred around the smog-clogged cities of Stuttgart and
Duesseldorf, it could have far-reaching repercussions in Europe's biggest
economy.
The ruling
is a major blow to the government and the nation's mighty automakers who have
long opposed driving bans, fearing outrage from diesel owners whose vehicles
could plummet in value.
Eager to
reassure them, the government was at pains to stress nothing would change right
away and that bans were not inevitable.
"Driving
bans can be avoided, and my goal is and will remain that they do not come into
force," said Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks.
Chancelor
Angela Merkel also weighed in, saying the ruling concerned only
"individual cities".
"It's
really not about the entire country and all car owners," she said.
But the
outcome marks a huge victory for the environmentalist group Deutsche
Umwelthilfe (DUH), which sued Stuttgart and Duesseldorf to force them to take
action against the toxic nitrogen oxides and fine particles emitted by older
diesel engines.
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German
Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, left, said cities could reduce air
pollution without banning older diesel vehicles (AFP Photo/Bernd von
Jutrczenka)
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'Great
day for clean air'
Lower-level
judges had already backed their demand for driving bans, but the states of
Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia appealed, arguing such curbs
should be decided at the federal level.
Judges at
the nation's top administrative court again sided with the environmental
campaigners.
"It's
a great day for clean air in Germany," said DUH chief Juergen Resch.
Almost
immediately after the verdict, the port city of Hamburg became the first to
announce plans for a diesel driving ban on two busy roads from late April, with
exceptions for residents, ambulances, city services and delivery vehicles.
The head of
Germany's VDA auto industry federation warned however against "a
patchwork" of local measures that would confuse drivers and urged the
government to take the lead in drawing up uniform regulations.
Analysts at
EY consultancy said only the latest diesel models that adhere to the strictest
Euro 6 standards would escape the potential driving restrictions, leaving some
10 million older diesels eligible for bans.
Mounting
pressure
Concerns
over the harmful effects of diesel have soared since Volkswagen admitted in
2015 to installing cheating devices in millions of cars that allowed them to
secretly spew far more nitrogen oxide (NOx) than legally allowed, and other
carmakers soon came under suspicion too.
The
poisonous gases have been linked to respiratory illnesses and heart problems,
leading to thousands of premature deaths each year.
Some 70 German cities including Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne recorded average nitrogen dioxide levels above EU thresholds in 2017, according to the Federal Environment Agency.
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The sales
of new diesel cars in Europe (AFP Photo/Sophie RAMIS)
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Some 70 German cities including Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne recorded average nitrogen dioxide levels above EU thresholds in 2017, according to the Federal Environment Agency.
Industry
giants such as Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler have responded to
"dieselgate" by offering software upgrades and trade-ins for newer
and cleaner models, but have resisted costly hardware fixes.
DUH chief
Resch however said Tuesday's ruling could finally put real pressure on
automakers to retrofit older engines with properly functioning emissions
controls.
"I now
expect the auto industry to deliver," he said.
Markus
Lewe, president of the Association of German Cities, urged Berlin to do more to
push the auto industry to clean up its act.
"Cities
don't want driving bans," he said.
The
government, long accused of going too easy on an industry that employs some 800,000
people, last year offered to create a billion-euro fund, partly paid for by
industry, to improve public transport and upgrade fleets to electric buses.
Such
measures are intended at least as much to placate local officials as well as
those in Brussels -- where Germany and a slew of other EU member states risk
legal action after sailing past a deadline to reduce air pollution.
