Germans more afraid of driving bans than air pollution – consumer advice centre head

Most Germans are more afraid of looming driving bans for polluting cars in inner cities than of the air pollution associated with these cars, says Klaus Müller, head of Germany’s federal consumer advice centre association vzbv, in an interview with Zeit Online. “It’s very clear. Driving bans are the more urgent issue. You simply cannot taste or see nitrogen oxides. That’s what makes it so difficult to assess how dangerous they really are,” Müller says. However, he says the problem of air pollution must be addressed, and that Germany’s federal states will have to present a credible solution to the problem if they want to avoid a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court on 22 February that could introduce immediate bans in several cities.

Find the interview in German here.

See the CLEW article on Germany’s diesel summit and its relevance for climate policy here.