Hamburg has become the first city in Germany to impose a partial ban on some older diesel¹ vehicles.

 

汉堡成为德国首个禁止某些老旧柴油机车辆上路的城市。

 

The move comes as a blow to the federal government as well as the country's automotive industry.

 

Diesel engines were invented in Germany and about half the country's drivers still use them today. But health concerns over harmful pollutants² and the fallout from Volkswagen's emissions-rigging scandal have led to somewhat of a national reckoning... and the country's first partial ban on diesel vehicles.

 

Dorothee Saar of the environmental group Deutsche Umwelthelfe explains.

 

SOT, Dorothee Saar, Deutsche Umwelthilfe:

 

"The highest court in Germany decided³ in February that driving bans are an instrument that has to be used when there is no other alternative. Hamburg is now doing that.

 

The ban in Germany's second-largest city comes as a result of dangerously high levels of nitrogen oxide⁴ in the air, which has been linked to respiratory diseases.

 

The ban - on portions of just two streets - applies to many diesel vehicles bought before twenty fifteen and could impact more than one hundred thousand cars in the city. The ban on passenger vehicles applies to a stretch of only about 580 meters, but it's still got locals arguing about the benefits"

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