There are a number of fictions about Low Emission Zones. This document looks to clarifies some of them and separates fact from fiction.

 

 

Fiction: You must buy a special sticker at a newsagent or Berlin office to be able to drive into Berlin by car.
FACT: There is the same LEZ sticker Germany- wide, and this can be bought on the web (see for example TÜV), by post, person and web from any LEZ authorities and many other German towns. It can also be bought from any TÜV station (annual vehicle inspection agency, at least one in each town). Many hotels in LEZ cities also offer to order the stickers on behalf of their guests, if they get the documents needed in advance.

Fiction: My windscreen will be filled with different stickers.
FACT: For each country which requires stickers, there is one sticker per country.
Stickers are only required for German, French, Spanish, and Danish LEZs and one Italian LEZ.  Stickers are required in Sweden only for very old exemptions. If there are to be low emission zones in the Czech Republic, it is expected that the German sticker will also be valid.

Fiction: There is no cost benefit analysis undertaken for Low Emission Zones.
FACT: Cities that implement LEZs have air quality action plans. This means that they will have assessed their air quality, identified the emissions sources, identified a package of measures to deal with air pollution, and assessed whether a LEZ is an effective measure to implement. In some countries the process towards an LEZ is more formalised, such as in the Dutch roadmap, which sets out what sets need to be taken to implement an LEZ, and under what conditions it can be implemented. However in each LEZ city it will have been assessed and identified as an effective air quality management measure.

Fiction: There is no co-ordination of Low Emission Zones.
FACT: In every country with more than one LEZ there is a national LEZ framework (see here for an outline of each of these national LEZ frameworks). In Germany there is also co-ordination within the Bundesländer (regions), which generally have LEZs with the same emissions standards. The exception is Italy. In Italy there is often regional co-ordination, which can allow for rules for local towns to be more strict than the regional standard. However this is tolling, and a number of regions, for example Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna now have more rigid frameworks, also setting out future plans. Information on all LEZs in Europe can be found on www.urbanaccessregulations.eu.

Fiction: Low Emission Zones are often implemented at short notice.
FACT: Most LEZs are notified at least a year in advance. Some of the German LEZs have been announced more shortly, but therefore often introductory phases with a wider range of exemptions and warning letters instead of penalty notices being issued. The exception is Italy, where in some cases short notice is given of implementation or re-implementation / continuation of a time-limited or winter LEZ.

Fiction: Access to an Low Emission Zone depends on how many children or cars you have.
FACT: This is not the case. In Germany there are ‘hardship’ exemptions that can be applied for. These ‘hardship exemptions’ are for little businesses that can prove that their existence would be threatened by buying a new vehicle, or those on low incomes who can prove that they cannot afford to buy a new vehicles. The definition of low incomes is usually taken from the German legal system, and depends on income levels and the number of people dependent on that income. This is usually for vehicles for which there is no retrofit possible. In Italy, as well as other countries, there is sometimes grants towards scrapping and replacing vehicles for those on low incomes.

Fiction: Low Emission Zones are just there to penalise motorists.
FACT: LEZs are implemented as a part of a wider ranging air quality action plan, looking at reducing emissions from many sources. These other sources can include factories, households, construction, shipping, railways, as well as road transport. Find out more from our "what else is being done to reduce pollution" page. LEZs are implemented to improve air quality which improves health, which affects all, particularly children, the elderly, those in poor health and drivers – see our LEZ background pages for more information.

Fiction: Low Emission Zones have no impacts, and impacts have not been assessed.
FACT: Many LEZs have undertaken post-implementation assessments. The assessments have shown positive impacts on air quality. In some cases there has been marginal impact on one pollutant, but more significant impacts on the other. A selection of LEZ impacts can be found on this page.

Fiction Low Emission Zones are purely environmental measures that take no account of economic or social factors
FACT: LEZs are implemented after careful consideration, as stated above. In all LEZs the emissions standards are chosen to be minimum possible to achieve the air quality improvements needed. LEZs often allow vehicles to be retrofitted with a diesel particulate filter to allow lower cost compliance. Social and economic factors are also taken into account in different ways in different countries. The methods can vary due to the different vehicles affected. For example in Germany and the Netherlands there have been grants towards retrofitting vehicles and hardship exemptions if the vehicle operator can prove they cannot afford to meet the emissions standards. In Italy some LEZs do not operate in the middle of the day, allowing those that are unable to provide access, but with less flexibility. In London occasional access can be gained by paying a daily charge. LEZs ensure that public transport still works to allow people access to the cities.

Fiction: All Low Emission Zones apply to cars.
FACT: The vehicles affected by LEZs vary around Europe, but they are usually focused on heavier vehicles. Few LEZs affect cars, see the city pages for further information.

Low Emission Zones (LEZs) have had a positive impact on air quality in many European cities. They are one of many measures that are implemented in cities to improve air quality. Poor air quality has an impact on our health. Improving air quality improves our health and lets us live longer.

   

The impacts of Low Emission Zones are discussed here. See here for the impacts of Urban Road Tolls and Access Regulations.

The level of impact LEZs have on air quality depends on many things, such as

• the emissions standard set,
• how well the LEZ is enforced (controlled),
• which vehicle types are affected,
• the geographical area of the LEZ,
• how vehicle operators choose to comply (for example, whether they choose to buy a new vehicle, retrofit a full diesel particulate filter, or buy a second hand vehicle that meets the standard, change fuel type)
• the vehicle fleet before the LEZ was implemented (for example how old, what types of vehicles and percentage of diesel and petrol vehicles)
• the importance of different pollution sources in that city
• how extreme the air quality problems are.

There are various ways to measure the impact of LEZs. Often the emissions of the vehicles in the LEZ are calculated and compared with a calculation for the same situation without an LEZ. Other times the air quality before and after is compared with similar situations. 

You can read more about the EU Air Quality Standards on the EU website that need to be met and air quality health impacts on the World Health Organisation website (we take no responsibility for external websites). These may help explain the information below.

LEZs reduce emissions of vehicles. In particular they reduce diesel particulates. These are pollutants that are confirmed by the World Health Organisation to be carcenogenic (see the WHO agency IARC or United Nations press releases). These particles are part of the pollutant known as PM₁₀, which is has an EU Air Quality Standard. However because diesel particulates are very small and PM₁₀ is measured by mass (weight), the diesel particulates make up a small proportion of the PM₁₀, but a proportionally larger impact on health.

Results from a number of cities are given below:

• London
• Berlin
• Milan
• The Netherlands
• Rotterdam's light duty vehicle LEZ
• Leipzig
• Cologne 
• Stockholm
• Copenhagen 
• Non-air quality impacts 

London LEZ:

Some of the results of the impact of the London LEZ are given below.
Please note: the public buses have higher standards than the LEZ. However, as this was achieved through the public bus contracts and not by the LEZ, these impacts are not included in the impacts of the LEZ. The impacts of the buses with less emission is significant, and also given below.

Impacts of the London LEZ:

• Black Carbon has been reduced by 40-50%
• NO₂:  Average concentrations were reduced by 0.12 μg/m³, peak concentration reductions up to 0.16 μg/m³ on polluted streets.
• PM₁₀: Average concentrations reduced 0.03 μg/m³, peak concentration reductions up to 0.5 μg/m³ on polluted streets.
• Emissions of PM₁₀ were reduced by 1.9% (28 tonnes)
• Emissions of NOx were reduced by 2.4% (26 tonnes)
• The feasibility study predicted gain of 5200 years of life, and 310,000 fewer cases of lower respiratory symptoms, 30,000 fewer cases of respiratory medication & 231,000 fewer restricted activity days. 
• The Cost Benefit Analysis gave a £250-670 million benefit, £90-250 of which are outside Greater London.

Impacts of public buses with less emission, done together with the LEZ:

Berlin low emission zone impacts:

Berlin has undertaken extensive impact assessments of the LEZ, isolating the impact of the LEZ from other measures and influences.

The LEZ has reduced PM₁₀ exceedences of the EU PM₁₀ air quality standard from 28 to 24 per year, diesel particulate concentrations by 14-22%, & PM₁₀ concentrations by 3% on main roads.

Berlin has reduced 58% of diesel particles, the most dangerous part of particulate matter. A graph of the results in "Reduction of diesel particulate emission" is shown below. The calculations are based on the vehicle fleet of the Frankfurter Allee in Berlin. 

(if you are viewing this through automatic translation, the words in the title are "Reduction of diesel Particle emission" and in the key are "Trend 2008 no Low Emission Zone" etc).

The emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) lead to NO₂ in the air. The LEZ has reduced these emissions by 20%.

(if you are viewing this through automatic translation, the words in the title are "based on fleet composition at Frankfurter Alle (new emission factor base data HBEFa3.1" and in the key are "Trend 2008 no Low Emission Zone" etc).

Milan Ecopass and Area C impact

Milan has four variations of its low emission zone. One is the regional LEZ (Milano Province): in winter vehicles with a lower Euro standard were banned.

The other scheme is the combined LEZ and Congestion Charge. The Ecopass was replaced by the Area C. With the Ecopass vehicles which entered Milan needed to pay; and vehicles with a lower Euro standard had to pay more. After a number of years the Ecopass did not have a significant impact any more, and so needed to be tightened. The Area C is the tighter scheme that charges vehicles and does not allow the dirtier (high emitting) vehicles access. The minimum standards allowed in the Area C are: diesel vehicles Euro 3, or petrol vehicles Euro 1. The 

 

• When it was implemented the Ecopass improved air quality concentrations by:

       – PM₁₀ annual average 4%, exceedences 13%

• When it was implemented the Ecopass reduced emissions from traffic (as well as traffic flow) by:

        – PM₁₀ 19%, NO_x 11%, CO₂ 9%

 

•The Area C has now reduced traffic emissions reduced by:

       – PM₁₀ 18%, NO_x 10%, CO₂ 22%

 

Because the Milan schemes are also a congestion charge, they also reduce the number of vehicles travelling into the city. Most 'normal' LEZs do not usually change the number of vehicles entering the zone. This means that the Milan schemes also reduce emissions of CO₂, which the other LEZs usually do not.

 

Before the Ecopass was implemented, the 35^th day of PM₁₀ exceedence in Milan was on the 35^th day of the year. For the first few years after it was implemented the Ecopass pushed the 35^th day of exceedence to the end of February - see the graph below.

The impact on number of days exceeding the PM₁₀ Limit Value of 50μg/m³ in the Ecopass area can be seen in the graph below (blue with Ecopass, red/purple without Ecopass).

 

The impact on PM₁₀ annual average concentrations in the air of the Ecopass area can be seen in the graph below (blue with Ecopass, red/purple without Ecopass).

The impact on the annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the Ecopass area can be seen in the graph below (blue with Ecopass, grey without Ecopass).

 

The impacts of the Area C have been

• Reduction of incoming  traffic of just over 30%
• During hours of Area C operation, the increase of commercial speed of public transport in the area is 5.7%  for buses and 4.7%  for trams.
• No evidence the of deterioration in the speed of public transport outside the area
• Impact on air quality emissions:
  • PM₁₀ exhaust                -19%;
  • PM₁₀  total                    -18%;
  • NH₃, Ammonia               -31%;
  • NOx Nitrogen oxides       -10%;
  • CO₂ Carbon dioxide        -22%

• Inside Area C compared to external area the following results for Black Carbon:
  • Concentrations of Black Carbon (BC) from -28% to -43%;
  • Content of Black Carbon in PM₁₀ (ratio BC/PM₁₀) from -16% to -46%;
  • Content of Black Carbon in PM_2.5 (ratio BC/PM_2.5) from -22% to -46%.

• Inside Area C compared to external area the following results:
  • Concentrations of Black Carbon (BC) from -28% to -43%;
  • Content of BC in PM₁₀ (ratio BC/PM₁₀) from -16% to -46%;
  • Content of BC in PM_2.5 (ratio BC/PM_2.5) from -22% to -46%.

Black Carbon is used because:

1) It is one of the most harmful substances to health

2) It comes from road traffic, and is not imported very much into cities from elsewhere. This means that reductions in black carbon in Milan will be from traffic changes. As the Area C is the major traffic change, that will be the main cause of the improvement.

The Netherlands LEZ, in 9 cities:

• The LEZs started from January 2007. In summer 2008, the actual air quality improvements were slightly less than predicted, with improvements between 0 - 2μg/m ³.
• The impact was limited by gradual enforcement and the fact that there were many exemptions for vehicles where diesel particulate filters were not available.
• Both of these were expected to improve and to increase the air quality impact by a factor of 1.5 - 2. The LEZ second phase will also have a greater impact.
• The Dutch enforcement of the LEZ is more strikt now. After the enforcement campaign: in Den Bosch 83% of lorries complied – up from 70%, in Eindhoven 91% of vehicles complied. Vehicles which did not comply and did not have exemptions must pay a €150 fine. This increased compliance will increase the impact of the LEZ on air quality.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam's LEZ was extended in January 2016 to affect cars and light duty vehicles. It now bans diesel vehicles registered after 1 July 2001 and petrol vehicles and LPG vehicles registered after 1 July 1992.

The impact of this scheme has been to reduce the number of severely polluting cars by half. Before the extended LEZ, of the up to 700 000 vehicles enter Rotterdam, 1.18% were older models with high emissions. Since the extended LEZ this has dropped to 0.66%. The city authorities estimate that this reduces emissions of soot by between 20 and 30 %. 

The proportion of dirty vehicles is likely to reduce further. There is currently no penalty for violating the ban. However, from 1 May drivers there is a €90 fine penalty.

For more information, visit The Eltis website, our Rotterdam page.

Cologne

• The LEZ has been in operation since January 2008.
• Results from the first year of operation show that air quality concentrations in Colognes LEZ have reduced more than the surrounding background. For NO₂ by 1.2 μg/m³ (background reduction was 0.5μg/m³), PM₁₀ by 4 μg/m³ and 17 exceedences of the limit value (background reduction 4 μg/m³ and 7 exceedences).

Stockholm

The Stockholm LEZ has been in operation since 1996, and its impact was extensively estimated in 2000. The impact on emissions of particles (PM₁₀) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are given below.

PM₁₀ emissions                                                                NOx emissions

Since 2000, there has been further work in Stockholm to reduce illegal vehicles (those not meeting the standards). Illegal vehicles are now less than 5% of those entering the zone. The contribution of emissions from illegal vehicles will therefore have been reduced.

In looking at the impact on concentrations, the levels of PM_0.2 (particles less than 0.2 μm in diameter) have been estimated. These are some of the smallest particles that are of most concern to health. Since diesel particulate exhaust emissions are all PM_0.2, they are reduced by the LEZ. The map below represents the estimated percentage reduction in PM_0.2 concentrations in Stockholm due to the LEZ.
 

As can be seen from the coloured map, emissions reduced differently in different parts of the city. Where the lorry traffic is heavier there is more impact from cleaner lorries. The map shows that concentrations of PM_0.2 were reduced by between 0.5 and 9% with the LEZ. If all vehicles had been fully compliant, then the concentrations would have been reduced by between 0.5 and 12%.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen estimated the likely impact of the LEZ in terms of the health impact:

Non-air quality impacts

A low emission zone stops the more polluting vehicles travelling in an area and reduces pollution. Low emission zones can have a significant impact on air pollution. However, they often do not solve the problem alone. Other measures are also needed.

 

Most European cities have Air Quality Action Plans to improve air quality. They often include implementing a low emission zone, as one of the single most effective measures. What is included an air quality action plan will depend on the most significant sources of pollution in the city and how they can be reduced. The city action plan works together with national, regional and EU measures.

Action on pollution is taken at the appropriate level, local, regional, national, Europe and world wide. 

Local measures for road traffic

Local measures for other pollution sources

Measures often taken at a national level or regional level

European and international measures

Examples of local measures for road vehicles:

• Measures to reduce the amount of traffic. And measures to improve other travel options. These include good and clean public transport, good cycle facilities, low emission car sharing schemes or appropriate town planning.
• City road tolls, or access regulations for different vehicles or trips to reduce the amount of traffic. This also means that those who need to travel by motor vehicle can move better.
• Incentives for cleaner vehicles. For example reduced road tax, cheaper road tolls, grants for electric or hybrid vehicles, cheaper or available parking.
• Smoothing traffic flow, for example by synchronising traffic lights
• Reducing speed limits on faster roads. This can improve traffic flow as well as making sure the vehicles travel at a cleaner and more efficient speed
• Encouraging the very cleanest vehicles. Vehicles with zero emissions (on the road), electric, hydrogen and plug-in-hybrid vehicles. Or vehicles with the very newest vehicles, or diesel particulate filters.
• Information campaigns about turning the engine off while stationary - no idling - or general information campaigns on air quality levels.

Examples of local measures for sources other than road vehicles:

• Emissions control of factories and power stations
• Controls on construction sites. For example reducing demolition dust, using cleaner fuels, newer vehicles and fitting equipment like diesel particulate filters on diesel construction machines
• Improving energy efficiency. Less fuel burned = less emissions
• Controls on using coal, oil or wood burning
• Encouraging cleaner heating systems with grant funding and / or requiring heating systems to meet minimum standards.
• Cleaner service vehicles at airports
• Electrifying train lines, cleaner train engines and cleaner train diesel fuel

Some measures are specific to some areas. For example in Scandinavia the studded winter tyres used in winter are a particular problem as they create lots of additional dust from the road surface. Specific measures are therefore taken for this studded winter tyres.

Examples of measures often taken at a national level or regional level, include:

• Financial help (grants or tax incentives) for cleaner vehicles. For example in many countries, efficient cleaner vehicles have cheaper road tax than inefficient dirtier vehicles
• Legal frameworks to allow or require action at the city level
• Funding for public transport

The European Union plays an essential role in reducing air pollution, through for example vehicle Euro standards, cleaner road, off-road or shipping fuels, aircraft policies or setting EU Air Quality Standards to protect health.

Measures that need to be taken at an international level, include those for shipping and aircraft. Agreements have been made, for example, to limit the sulphur content of shipping fuels, both generally and in certain shipping areas. Further discussions on shipping and aircraft emissions reductions are being undertaken. These agreements often take longer to happen, as greater numbers of different countries need to agree them.

Fitting a replacement, cleaner engine

© Gregory Gerber - shutterstock.com

For some long-life vehicles, replacing the existing engine with one that is of a higher emissions standard may be an option (also referred to as “repowering”). These vehicles might include:

• specialist vehicles
• high cost vehicles
• coaches
• buses

This may be particularly relevant if the engine needs replacing as part of the maintenance of the vehicle anyway.

To allow entry into a low emission zone, this change to your vehicles emissions will need to be certified. Different countries have different approaches to this. In some countries you may be able to have the change made on your vehicle registration papers, or provide other proof for the low emission zone authorities.