German environmental group pushes for diesel ban

A German green group is pushing for court enforced diesel bans in 16 cities, according to Reuters.

The news comes in the wake of prosecutors widening the investigation into German car manufacturer Volkswagen, which two years ago admitted to deliberately cheating US pollution tests.

According to Reuters, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), a lobby group advocating a ban on polluting cars from roads, believes proposals to cut diesel fumes announced in a recent high profile summit are inadequate.

There is no alternative to pursuing court enforced diesel bans in 16 cities, DUH chief Juergen Resch said.

 

Following the trend

Recently, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has said for the first time that Germany will ultimately have to ban the production of new diesel cars. The claim follows recent announcements by both France  and the UK  that they would ban the production of new diesel cars by 2040.

The announcement, combined with the Volkswagen investigation and pressure from campaign groups like DUH, means pressure is mounting on Germany’s car industry to cut its diesel fume emissions.

Prosecutors from Lower Saxony, who are leading the investigation in Volkswagen, have confirmed that 38 people are now included in the investigation.

Volkswagen used illegal engine management software to help a car detect when it was subject to pollution tests. Pollution filtering was increased during tests, and reduced during real world driving conditions to improve the cars’ performance.