Motor vehicle fine dust sticker obtained (green environmental sticker)

Air quality improvement plans are in place for areas with poor air quality. These plans include measures to improve air quality. The establishment of low-emission zones is one such measure. Low-emission zones are intended to reduce particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide pollution.

Only vehicles displaying the appropriate sticker on their windshield are permitted to drive in designated low-emission zones. This applies not only to through traffic but also to residents of low-emission zones.

If you wish to drive your vehicle in such an environmental zone, you must purchase a particulate matter sticker (environmental sticker).

The classification of pollutant groups is regulated by the Thirty-Fifth Ordinance Implementing the Federal Immission Control Act.

The ordinance applies to all motor vehicles in classes M (passenger cars/RV) and N (trucks), regardless of the type of propulsion (internal combustion engines—gasoline, diesel, or gas—and electric propulsion).

Vehicles registered abroad also require the sticker to be permitted to enter low-emission zones. This labeling of low-emission vehicles is intended to help reduce particulate matter pollution, particularly in cities.

The stickers, which come in red, yellow, and green, each correspond to a specific pollutant group:

• Green sticker = Pollutant Group 4:
  • Motor vehicles with the lowest particulate matter or pollutant emissions, such as vehicles with state-of-the-art diesel technology and nearly all gasoline-powered vehicles equipped with a regulated catalytic converter
• Yellow sticker = Pollutant Group 3:
  • Diesel passenger cars with emission code numbers (ESN) 30, 31, 36, 37, 42, 44 through 52, and 72
  • Diesel commercial vehicles with ESN 34, 44, 54, 70, 71
• Red sticker = Pollutant Group 2:
  • Diesel passenger cars with emission code numbers (ESN) 25 through 29, 35, 41, 71
  • Diesel commercial vehicles with ESN 20, 21, 22, 33, 43, 53, 60, 61
• No sticker = Pollutant Group 1:
  • Vehicles with a lower emission rating cannot be issued a sticker at all.

• Ask the appropriate authority to issue the Green Environmental Sticker for your vehicle.
• Present your vehicle registration certificate to the vehicle registration authority, an officially recognized inspection organization (DEKRA, TÜV, GTÜ, FSP, KÜS), or an auto repair shop.
• After the vehicle data has been verified and provided that the requirements are met, you will be issued the green emissions sticker to display prominently in your vehicle.

Contact the Technical Inspection Agency (DEKRA) and the officially recognized inspection organizations (DEKRA, TÜV, GTÜ, FSP, KÜS), as well as many auto repair shops.

In order to obtain an environmental badge, your vehicle must meet the criteria of pollutant groups 2, 3 or 4.

You cannot obtain a sticker for vehicles in pollutant group 1. These are

• gasoline vehicles without a regulated catalytic converter and
• older diesel vehicles with emission standard Euro 1 or worse.

The vehicle registration document (for older vehicles) or the registration certificate Part I (for newer vehicles). The vehicle itself does not have to be presented.

The price for a badge is set by the issuing offices themselves. As a rule, it costs between 5.00 and 10.00 euros (including VAT).

There are no deadlines to be observed.

In most cases, you will receive the sticker immediately.

Not specified

If you are planning to drive into an environmental zone, make every effort to purchase a fine dust sticker as early as possible. If there are delays and you do not have a fine dust sticker, you will not be allowed to drive in the low emission zone.

The following vehicles are generally allowed to drive in the low emission zone without a sticker:

• mobile machines and devices
• working machines
• agricultural and forestry tractors
• two- and three-wheeled motor vehicles
• ambulances, doctor's cars with appropriate marking used for medical care of the population
• motor vehicles driven or driven by persons who are exceptionally disabled, helpless or blind and who prove this by the symbol "aG", "H", "Bl" in the severely disabled person's identity card
• Vehicles for which special rights can be claimed
• Vehicles of non-German troops within the scope of military cooperation
• Civilian vehicles on behalf of the Bundeswehr for journeys that cannot be postponed for the performance of sovereign tasks.
• vintage cars , as well as vehicles registered in another Member State of the European Union, another contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or Turkey, if they meet equivalent requirements. The license plates of vehicles covered by this exemption and registered in Germany end with an H. In the case of red license plates, the number after the distinguishing letter of the registration district begins with 07.

On the basis of clean air plans, local authorities can determine which areas are to be designated as temporary or permanent environmental zones.

In special, justified cases, the responsible road traffic authority (road traffic authority in whose district the environmental zone has been ordered) can approve temporary exceptions to the traffic prohibitions associated with the environmental zone upon application.

Further information on low emission zones is available from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

For information on stickers and retrofitting options, the database for particulate matter stickers and retrofitting options has been set up on the Internet.

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.

Thüringer Ministerium für Digitales und Infrastruktur

15.07.2026

The environmental zones are indicated by a separate traffic sign. The additional sign indicates the colors of the stickers that allow vehicles to drive freely in the specific environmental zone.

On the websites of the DEKRA you can also check online which pollutant group your vehicle belongs to.

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