Low emission zone stickers in Germany
What the Umweltbundesamt (UBA) says, summarised. Source: UBA page on low emission zones, retrieved 5 November 2026.
Stages in the list
The UBA list shows three stages per zone with the date each began. Stage 1 admits red, yellow and green stickers, stage 2 yellow and green, stage 3 green only.
What the UBA states
- The legal basis is the 35th Ordinance on the Federal Immission Control Act (35. BImSchV).
- Vehicles get a sticker in one of three colours; vehicles of pollutant group 1 get none.
- Since 2012 only vehicles with a green sticker may drive in the existing zones, and the stickers are valid in every zone in Germany.
- Only cars, trucks and buses are affected. The UBA lists exemptions, among them motorcycles, vehicles with an electric-vehicle marking, historic vehicles and vehicles for disabled people; individual exemptions can be requested from the local registration authority.
- Driving without a sticker or an exemption in a zone is an administrative offence, currently fined at 100 euros according to the UBA.
- The UBA notes that more and more cities are lifting their zones and that 35 zones remained.