Baden-Württemberg: many environmental zones abolished
More and more environmental zones are being abolished in Germany. This is now also the case in Baden-Württemberg in the south-west of the Federal Republic. The administration in Stuttgart wants to abolish 5 low emission zones from January 2024. The reason is the improved air quality. A dangerous step for the health of the residents.
There are still almost 60 environmental zones in Germany. But the number is shrinking. The diesel driving bans in Hamburg have just been abolished. It has been clear for some time that there will no longer be an environmental zone in Hanover from 2024. In other cities such as Heidelberg, Schrammberg and Pfinztal, the zones have already been abolished for some time.
Now the regional council of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart has officially announced that 5 local low emission zones will be abolished. These are the zones in Heilbronn, Heidenheim, Leonberg, Herrenberg and Hemmingen. In Ilsfeld, the zone was already cancelled in May this year.
The reason for the abolition of the zones is to improve the air quality in the cities. The currently valid Clean Air Plan stipulates that the environmental zones are intended as a measure to improve air quality. Since the measured values now meet the specifications, the legal basis for the zones is therefore no longer given. According to the Regional Council in Stuttgart, the abolition of the environmental zones will not endanger air quality. According to this, "on the basis of an expert opinion by the Landesanstalt Umwelt Baden-Württemberg [] it has been proven that the abolition of these environmental zones will not lead to renewed limit value exceedances".
The limit values in Baden-Württemberg are therefore currently being complied with. However, a reduction of the current limit values is more than likely in the near future. The EU had recently decided that the limit values for clean air should be lowered to the values of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The values currently in force in the EU are in fact still clearly too high for human health.
Thus, according to the law, the air in Baden-Württemberg is clean and a continuation of the environmental zones is not necessary on paper. From a medical point of view, however, there is still no reason for residents in the affected zones to breathe a sigh of relief. On the contrary - even if the abolition of the environmental zones does not cause limit values to be exceeded, any increase in air pollution is dangerous to the health of the citizens in the affected cities. So is the administration in Stuttgart acting negligently, or are their hands legally tied under the current conditions? It is clear that in order to protect the citizens, new limit values must be introduced quickly that actually reduce the health risks caused by air pollution.