Ozone alert in Germany: Do we need temporary driving bans?
After France, Munich and other major cities are also struggling with the heat and elevated ozone levels. To get a grip on the harmful effects of the gas at peak times, Germany could follow its neighbour's example and introduce temporary traffic restrictions.
Anyone who can remember the warnings about the ozone hole from the 1980s and 1990s knows that this is not the first time that the odourless gas has posed a problem for the environment and health. But today it is no longer about the hole in the stratosphere - which is supposed to close over time - but about rising ozone concentrations near the ground as well.
Increasingly alarming maximum values have been measured in France over the years. Currently, there are ozone warnings in cities like Grenoble, Lyon and Avignon. Marseille in particular is suffering from this and last month had to impose temporary driving bans for the most polluting vehicle classes. In Germany, on the other hand, such measures in response to ozone exceedances were not to be feared until now. But now that similar alarming measurements have been taken in Munich, ozone-related driving bans could come about in German cities after all.
Although citizens would not be happy about further traffic restrictions, they could be a "necessary evil". After all, the question of reducing ozone concentrations is primarily a public health issue. In contrast to the role that ozone plays in the stratosphere, at ground level the gas is not a protective layer for living creatures against harmful UV solar radiation. As a strong oxidant - which can irritate the respiratory tract and the eyes, as well as promote respiratory diseases - ozone gas itself poses a danger. And not only to humans and animals, but also to plants and the environment in general. Ozone is considered the third most effective driver of global warming, after carbon dioxide and methane. The entire ecosystem in other words is affected by it.
It is in this context that it is time for Germany to develop and implement a system of temporary traffic restrictions that come into effect when certain limit values are reached or exceeded. These can namely be based on the target values set by the Federal Environment Agency for the protection of health. According to this, the maximum 8-hour value of a day may exceed 120 µg/m3 on no more than 25 days per calendar year (determined over 3 years). France and Marseille are the best proof that such a system can at least partially reduce the problematic ozone concentration.
Although the German environmental zones undoubtedly contribute to reducing many pollutants and thus pollution on a daily basis, they are not sufficient to combat ozone peaks that are harmful to health. Value-based and day-specific temporary traffic measures can instead reduce targeted ozone concentrations. Temporary environmental zones can be the most effective tool. However, it is too early to say whether cities in Bavaria and other regions will also opt for this path.