Berlin highlighted as blueprint for improving air quality

Berlin has been outlined as a blueprint for cities that are keen to improve their air quality by cutting down on traffic.

The German capital has implemented a successful scheme whereby vehicles are colour coded depending on how much pollution they cause.

A sticker is placed on the windscreen and on certain days when levels of Particulate Matter (PM10) are high, the worst offenders can be banned from certain zones within the city.

Now, Business Green reports, representatives of Clean Air in London want a similar initiative introduced in the English capital before the 2012 Olympic Games starts.

However, the mayor's director of environment Kulveer Ranger said the system could be unnecessary.

"[It] would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut in policy terms, delivering minimal benefits to air quality at a high cost to London's drivers and businesses," he was reported as saying.

A recent study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Siemens indicated that German people generally have a good understanding of the need to become more environmentally-friendly, although some cities are blighted by high levels of CO2.

Posted by Lauren Steadman