Eyes have turned to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig after years of failure by federal, state and local governments to slash harmful emissions. After years of warnings, environmental campaign group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) took dozens of municipalities to court to force them into tougher action. Upholding the court decisions in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf would open the way to local authorities imposing a patchwork of bans. A ruling from the highest administrative court would also send an important signal to other tribunals and put pressure on Berlin. "I would be very surprised if we escape diesel bans" on Thursday, cities' association chief Dedy said.

Source: The Local February 20, 2018 07:41 UTC