German Court Could Open Way To Bans On Diesel Cars

Frankfurt am Main, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Feb, 2018 ) :One of Germany's top courts will decide Thursday whether some diesel vehicles can be banned from parts of cities like Stuttgart and Duesseldorf to reduce air pollution, a possible landmark judgement for the "car nation".

Eyes have turned to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig after years of failure by federal, state and local governments to slash harmful emissions. Fine particle pollution and nitrogen oxides (NOx) contribute to as many as 400,000 premature deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular disease per year in the European Union.

That has brought Germany and other air quality sinners like France or Italy into the European Commission's sights for possible legal action.

Some 70 cities in Europe's most populous nation suffered from average annual nitrogen dioxide levels above EU thresholds last year, with Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne the worst offenders.

"The air is bad here, you cough and you get a scratchy throat, especially in winter," clean air campaigner Peter Erben told AFP standing beside the exhaust-blackened facades of Stuttgart's busy Neckartor main road. "We want immediate action, and there is no more immediate action than reducing traffic."