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Environment agency backs national road tolls

The Federal Environment Agency is backing a nationwide road toll that would charge motorists depending on how far they drive, a media report said Thursday.

Environment agency backs national road tolls
Photo: DPA

According to daily Berliner Zeitung, in an unpublished study, the agency (UBA) said such a toll on passenger cars, known as a Pkw-Maut, would be the best way to tax car traffic and protect the environment.

Such a charge could cost each motorist several hundred euros per year.

UBA president Jochen Flasbarth told the paper: “The widely-applied toll is the most proper solution, because the costs are paid where they occur.”

At present, motoring costs the state €47 billion more than petrol and vehicle taxes bring in, he said.

The introduction of the toll could help pay for the construction and maintenance of roads and the upgrading of motorway networks, he added.

In the view of the UBA, a toll based on how far motorists drove would be an ecological tax, meaning the rate could be dropped for clean and efficient “green” cars. It could also be raised in areas that were heavily burdened by traffic or were in particular need of environmental protection.

“If the Cologne ring is congested in the morning, it would become more expensive at this time. That leads to a more evenly distributed use of roads, and is also good for the environment,” Flasbarth said.

Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer, however, rejected the suggestion of a national toll on passenger cars.

“The coalition agreement doesn’t order it,” Ramsauer said at a conference of transport ministers in Bremen.

His state colleagues also spoke against such a toll. “I don’t regard a car toll as practicable,” said Thuringia’s minister, Christian Carius.

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ROADS

Denmark signals support for zero-emissions zones in cities

A new proposal presented by the government on Wednesday could give local authorities the ability to designate zero-emissions zones in cities.

Denmark signals support for zero-emissions zones in cities
Parking spaces at a charging point in Aalborg. The sign reads "reserved for electric cars". File photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

The zones would only allow access to vehicles without combustion engines, such as electric cars.

Wednesday’s government proposal states that there is already demand at municipalities for zero-emissions zones in set parts of cities in order to reduce air and noise pollution.

The government said it wants to accommodate that demand while still enabling people to live, move around and shop in the zones.

“The government will therefore look closely at whether affected residents and businesses in the area have realistic alternatives and that there would be time to meet the criteria,” the government writes in the proposal.

“A framework must also be set to ensure access for necessary use of industrial vehicles, including delivery of goods,” it adds.

A long period of transition would be required in municipalities that decide to take up the option of establishing the zones, according to interest groups for the automotive industry.

Goods vehicles could be amongst those to face the largest obstacles in such a situation, as the range on zero emissions goods vehicles on the market is limited, according to the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

“That means it would be difficult to ensure supply to cities where the requirement for zero emissions might be effective,” DI’s CEO Lars Sandahl Sørensen said via written comment.

The association for car importers in Denmark, De Danske Bilimportører, said that the zones would be difficult to implement without a long phasing-in.

“The proposal for zero emissions zones in particular is very far reaching and can hardly be implemented without a long phasing in period, as the range of electric and hydrogen cars with sufficient range should be greater,” the organization’s CEO Mads Rørvig said in a statement.

FDM, an association for motorists in Denmark, went further in its criticism of the plan.

“It’s far too early and disproportionate to have zero-emissions zones that would exclude 98 percent of Danish motorists,” FDM senior consultant Dennis Lange said in a written comment.

“This is a symbolic policy which will have no measurable effect on pollution,” he added.

READ ALSO: Lower Danish taxes backed for home electric car charging

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