Danish congestion charge won't have great impact on emissions or air quality

The planned introduction of congestion charges in Copenhagen will not have a major impact on air quality according to Kåre Press-Kristensen, traffic expert at Denmark's Ecological Council (Det Økologiske Råd).
April 30, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The planned introduction of congestion charges in Copenhagen will not have a major impact on air quality according to Kåre Press-Kristensen, traffic expert at Denmark's 5352 Ecological Council (Det Økologiske Råd). Congestion charges will help reduce emissions but not by as much as they will reduce traffic, he says. The reason is that the charges will primarily keep private cars out of the city and these tend to be new, petrol driven vehicles with realtively low emissions. Diesel driven taxis, delivery trucks and buses will however, continue to operate in the city, spewing out nitrogen and dangerous particles. Press-Kristensen estimates emissions will fall 7-10% with congestion charges while traffic may be reduced by as much as 25%.Steen Solvang Jensen, senior researcher at the Department of Environmental Science at 5353 Aarhus University agrees with Press-Kristensen and says commercial traffic will continue despite a congestion charge.
Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Montreal’s critical list of deteriorating bridges and tunnels has doubled
    September 3, 2012
    The number of Montreal’s bridges and tunnels in a “critical” condition has more than doubled during the past 12 months, says a shocking new report looking at the state of the city’s transport infrastructure. The new report, which came out this month, shows that 27 of the city’s 587 highway structures reached “critical condition” in 2011 compared with only 12 in 2010.
    Read More
  • India plans major infrastucture investment
    February 10, 2012
    India says it turned its Commonwealth Games into a world-class success, and now it aims to do the same with its infrastructure. Patrick Smith reports. On October, 2010 India put itself on the world stage, and disaster appeared to loom as a catalogue of problems dogged its biggest ever sporting event. Costing nearly US$2 billion to stage, the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever were, according to some, in doubt.
    Read More
  • India plans major infrastucture investment
    April 5, 2012
    India says it turned its Commonwealth Games into a world-class success, and now it aims to do the same with its infrastructure. Patrick Smith reports On October, 2010 India put itself on the world stage, and disaster appeared to loom as a catalogue of problems dogged its biggest ever sporting event. Costing nearly US$2 billion to stage, the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever were, according to some, in doubt. After years of planning some projects were incomplete, there were health scares and a br
    Read More
  • Hydrogen engines from Hyundai
    March 1, 2023
    Hyundai Doosan Infracore (HDI) is aiming to mass produce internal combustion engines (ICE) the use hydrogen as fuel in 2025. The firm is unveiling its prototype ICE power unit that runs on hydrogen in 2023, with full-scale testing planned for 2024, to be followed by full-scale mass production in 2025.
    Read More

Highlighted Content