Munich Wants to Ban Diesels to Tackle Pollution

Diesels are once again a topic of discussion as Munich considers to ban this engine type to tackle pollution. Bloomberg and New York Times both report that the City of Munich is currently making a decision on this amidst “shocking” nitrogen oxide emissions in their location. “As much as I would welcome avoiding such bans, I think it is just as unlikely that we can continue to do without bans in the future,” Munich mayor Dieter Reiter was quoted as saying by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday. There will be exemptions for buses, taxis and diesels that pass Europe’s latest Euro 6 emissions standards.

The image of diesels was tarnished since the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal two years ago. It is still an ongoing case and so the engines are in the spotlight. Even though diesel popularity seems to be declining, it still accounts for at least 50% of European new-car sales. Diesel engines remain popular because of better fuel efficiency than gasoline ones. In the latest models, they also have lower levels of CO2.

Some cities in London and Paris and even Stuttgart are already making efforts to restrict older diesels. However, a BMW spokesperson says that banning diesel engines in Munich is not a long term solution to pollution problems. In the last few years, diesel engines have played an important role in helping automakers meet the demanding emissions standards. For example, diesel-powered engines accounted for 71 percent of BMW’s total sales in Europe in the first four months, down 4.2 percent from a year earlier.

The German automaker believes that manufacturers won’t be able to meet the EU’s 2020 targets on CO2 emissions without diesel, which uses about 20 percent less fuel than gasoline engines. “There are better, more intelligent measures like incentives for car sharing and electric mobility that would lead to a sustainable improvement,” said BMW spokesman Glenn Schmidt. Daimler AG also complained that such bans are unfair to customers who bought their cars as recently as 2015, before Euro 6 kicked in.