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Germany Ponders “Blue Badges” for Cleaner Diesels
The German government is studying a plan that would enable cities with diesel bans to easily exempt vehicles equipped with the most advanced emission controls by labeling the cars with blue badges.
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The German government is studying a plan that would enable cities with diesel bans to easily exempt vehicles equipped with the most advanced emission controls by labeling the cars with blue badges.
The idea has caught on quickly among politicians after a federal administrative court ruled yesterday that cities may ban diesels in general when air quality is especially poor. About 70 German cities—including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich—are struggling with repeated violations of EU air quality standards.
The Financial Times says the blue badge scheme is favored by Germany’s environment ministry, which contends that the practice would eliminate a patchwork of varying and conflicting rules. But the country’s transport ministry, which has called for retrofitting older diesels, opposes the idea. It argues that badging new diesels that are already clean “goes in the wrong direction.”
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