German speed limit could cut more CO2 than previously thought -study

By Riham Alkousaa

BERLIN, Jan 20 (Reuters) – A new study has found that
Germany could save almost three times more carbon dioxide
emissions than previously thought by introducing a speed limit
on its highways, increasing pressure on Berlin to reconsider the
politically sensitive issue.

Data from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) published on
Thursday showed a speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour (75
miles per hour) on motorways in Germany, where there are
currently no speed restrictions, could cut total CO2 emissions
from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by about 6.7
million tonnes a year.

In an earlier study, with a different methodology, the
agency expected such limit to result in 2.6 million CO2 cuts.

The transport ministry said the study also showed that a
general speed limit would lead to a shift in traffic from the
motorways to secondary roads, leading to more traffic jams and
more accidents in cities and on rural roads with more noise and
environmental pollutants for their residents.

“Traffic flow and road safety are proven to be greatest on
motorways,” a spokesperson for the ministry told Reuters, adding
that the government had agreed on effective measures to achieve
its climate goals, where a general speed limit was not included.

As Germany aims to become carbon neutral by 2045, the new
results add to mounting pressure on the transport ministry, led
by the liberal FDP party, to ramp up its CO2 cutting programme
for the sector that has been the slowest to cut emissions.

To meet its 2022 greenhouse reduction target, the sector’s
emissions should have not exceeded 138.7 million tonnes of
CO2-equivalents. UBA will announce in March whether the sector
met that target but had cautioned in November that there was no
indications it had managed to do so.

In 2021, transport in Germany emitted some 148 million
tonnes of CO2, missing its target by around 3 million tonnes.

The transport ministry says its programme will cut some 13
million tonnes in the coming years, compensating for the 2021
missed target.

But environmentalists say the programme does not go far
enough, urging the government to introduce speed limits on its
motorways, with some activists supergluing themselves to roads
in Berlin and other German cities demanding such limit.

Germany’s ruling coalition has failed to agree on a speed
limit due to opposition from the FDP.

UBA’s results coincided with Germany’s constitutional court
announcing on Thursday that it had rejected a constitutional
complaint against the government for not introducing a general
speed limit on the country’s motorways.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Alex Richardson,
Kirsten Donovan)