Admittedly, this proposal is unlikely to resolve the problem overnight. But such a
compromise would not really be surprising, in many areas, including German
politics.
One factor corroborating this view is that the air is much cleaner today
than it was 10 or 20 years ago. What is more, diesel cars in the cities are not
the only source of nitrogen oxides (public transport buses and commercial
vehicles, industry, heating systems, construction sector resp. Construction
machines, etc.). Apart from likely being limited in terms of time, driving bans
would also be restricted to certain roads/urban areas. Nor would all diesel cars
be affected.
It should be noted in this context that the permissible NO2 exposure
limit in the workplace is 950 micrograms per cubic metre, well above the 40
microgram limit allowed in the ambient air.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18.d:202/nws-01