Environment zones
Regional regulation differences for environment zones
Based on the labelling regulations and the legal provision on air quality, municipalities can establish local environment zones for road traffic. Berlin, Frankfurt/Main, Hanover, Cologne, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Ludwigsburg and other many cities and urban areas used that instrument in order to reduce the respirable dust and nitrogen oxide emission level. Experts however expect very limited effect.
Only passenger cars and trucks identified with a sticker are allowed to enter environment zones. Two- and three-wheeled motor vehicles, ambulance cars, vehicles for severely disabled persons, military vehicles and vehicles with special permissions as well as vintage cars with H or 07 labelling have a general access authorisation.
The cities have also introduced own catalogues with additional exceptions that vary between municipalities. It is therefore obvious that no consistent national regulation for exceptions exists for residents. Each city decides on its own about how to handle older vehicles in environment zones.
The regulation on the time until which yellow and red stickers authorize access, also varies between cities. In most cities, vehicles with red labels are no longer exempted from the access prohibition as from 2009/2010.
The distribution of the labels and the exclusion of vehicles without labels, which implies a high bureaucratic administration effort, will change the respirable dust level in environment zones only to very limited extent. Experts expect a reduction of the respirable dust level through traffic-limiting measures in the environment zones by a maximum of 3 percent. This magnitude is included in the measuring tolerance.
In order to provide a detailed overview of the potential effects of environment zones, the impact on the respirable dust level must be analysed continuously prior to and after the introduction of environment zones, to enable an evaluation and to correct ineffective measures. First results confirm the assumptions. However, it is already obvious that environment zones will only be successful if not only the road traffic but also any other polluters are obligated to reduce their emissions to the technically and economically feasible level.
