No entry!

The undisputed fact that Germany is a car-mad nation doesn't mean that all vehicles on the roads here have only state-of-the-art technology under their hoods.

A considerable number of registered cars are eight to ten years old, including lots of vehicles with diesel engines that don't boast a particulate filter.

Drivers who can't afford or are unwilling to have their cars refitted will be rigorously barred from the city centers of Berlin and Hanover when stricter rules come into effect in January in environmental zones that were set up there in 2008.

Green light for green stickers

Only cars with a green sticker affixed to the windscreen will be allowed in. Drivers of cars whose emission levels are too high will either have to avoid the city center or use public transport .

"The dirtiest cars here make up about 10 percent of the overall traffic, and yet they acount for up to 50 percent of black carbon emissions", says independent traffic advisor Axel Friedrich.

"So, if you take these vehicles out of traffic, you have a very strong impact immediately."

More German cities are following the examples of Berlin and Hanover. In the course of 2010 there will be 40 such zones across the country, although the rules will be applied with varying degrees of rigidity.

Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Germany's ADAC motoring club claims that too much hype is being made about the low-emission zones. It argues that there's not enough scientific proof of the effectiveness of such areas, added to which, people's mobility is gravely hampered by the restrictions.

However extensive monitoring in Berlin has shown that black carbon emissions have been reduced by 16 percent since the zone was introduced in 2008.

"There's no point in playing down the dangers involved in being subjected to an overdose of particulate matter over a longer period", says Juergen Resch, managing director of German Environment Aid, a pro-environment pressure group. He points out that an estimated 300,000 people across the European Union die every year of respiratory diseases and heart failures, fully or at least partly caused by excessive exposure to particulate matter.

Brussels is never far away

It's not that so many German cities have meanwhile jumped on the anti-emissions bandwaggon voluntarily. But they simply had to act on European Union legislation which has made the lowering of particulate matter levels mandatory. However, it doesn't state categorically how this goal is to be reached.

"Some have tried to clean inner-city streets more often so as to wash away the harmful substances", says Axel Friedrich. "But in the end, nothing works nearly as good as low-emission zones which can be used everywhere and are very cost-effective too."

Author: Hardy Graupner

Editor: Susan Houlton