France: More driving bans called for
The first winter pollution period was announced in Paris yesterday. The Paris air authority Airparif had predicted on Tuesday that fine particulate matter (PM 10) concentrations would exceed the legal limit of 50 µg/m³ on Wednesday: The concentrations were actually between 55 and 70 µg/m³.
Flanders: New cars only electric from 2027
The Flemish Minister for Transport and Mobility has presented an ambitious plan: From 2027, all new vehicle registrations are to be electric only. She assumes that the purchase price for electric cars will be the same as for petrol or diesel cars from 2025/26. Experts have doubts and fear difficulties for the used car market.
Diesel locomotives instead of electricity
Rising energy prices are demanding more and more unpleasant decisions. In Great Britain, they have now been forced to replace electric locomotives with diesel locomotives. The line to Glasgow, where the climate summit is currently taking place, is also affected.
Scandal: Exhaust gas fraud at Daimler
Eight defeat devices have been found in Mercedes-Benz's Euroclass 6 E-Class that disguise the true emissions of its cars.
Swedish environmental zones explained
Sweden would like to be a pioneer in environmental protection. To achieve this, there are three different types of low emission zones. A total of eight cities have an environmental zone, and Stockholm even has two different ones.
Brussels: 16 percent fewer diesel vehicles
Since the introduction of the Low Emission Zone in Brussels in January 2018, the number of diesel vehicles has decreased significantly. The situation is quite different in France, however, where the first Low Emission Zone was introduced back in 2015.
Berlin driving bans put to the test
Berlin wants to know exactly what is driving on its streets and who is polluting them. For this purpose, car registration plates are read and evaluated at various locations for a week. Will new diesel driving bans be introduced?
Low emission zones in Great Britain explained
There are Low Emission Zones in ten cities in the UK. The eleventh low emission zone will be added in Portsmouth at the beginning of November 2021. However, most low emission zones do not apply to passenger cars. In fact, in most cities the restrictions only apply to city buses.
Fines in Germany too low
When comparing the fines for traffic offenders in Europe, it is striking how little one actually has to pay in Germany. This also applies to unauthorised entry into environmental zones or other closed roads. In the past, there was even a point in Flensburg for this, but this has been abolished in the meantime, as the road safety of road users is not considered to be at risk. Nevertheless, the question arises as to the efficiency of environmental zones when, firstly, there are hardly any checks and, secondly, fines are rarely collected.
Austria: Stricter environmental zones for all trucks and cars
Austria's current climate plan will not be enough to meet the EU targets by 2030 and thus reduce CO2 emissions by 7 percent. Now it is being discussed whether the rules of the environmental zones should be tightened. Then, for example, only trucks with a registration from 2020 would be allowed in Tyrol. But that will not be enough to combat air pollution. One solution would be to extend the rules to other vehicle classes such as passenger cars.