Umweltzone Germany 2026: 41 Cities, €5 Sticker, €100 Fine
Umweltzone Germany: 41 cities (35 registered zones), a green sticker from about €5, a flat €100 fine, and the diesel bans a green disc will not lift.
A German Umweltzone needs a green Umweltplakette (from about €5, once); driving in without it is a flat €100. Older diesels also face bans in Stuttgart, Munich and Darmstadt.
A German Umweltzone is an environmental zone you may only enter with a green Umweltplakette displayed, and the count has two correct answers: 41 cities run one while the federal register lists 35 zones, because the Ruhrgebiet zone alone spans 13 municipalities. The disc is the cheap part, from about €5 at a registration office and valid for the life of the car, while driving inside a zone without it is a flat €100 under the federal fine catalogue. Hamburg, named as a zone city in plenty of travel guidance, has never had one.
Your case: A green disc settles the standard zone but not the separate diesel restrictions in cities such as Stuttgart — match your car’s exact Euro class to each German zone in the emission zone checker before you drive in.
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41 German cities, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Leipzig among them, run an Umweltzone (environmental zone). To drive inside it you need a green Umweltplakette: a numbered disc on your windscreen showing your car’s pollutant group.
- Cost: from about €5 at a registration office (Berlin: €5 at the counter, €6 online with postage); TÜV, DEKRA and garages also issue it. One-off, valid for the life of the car.
- Timing from abroad: delivery by post takes 7-14 days, so order 2-3 weeks ahead.
- Who qualifies for green: petrol cars from Euro 1 with a regulated catalytic converter onwards; diesels Euro 4, or Euro 3 with a particulate filter; electric and fuel-cell cars automatically.
- E-plate exemption: from 1 October 2026 a car carrying a German E-plate, or the blue E badge that foreign-registered EVs can get, needs no sticker; an EV with neither still needs the green one.
- Foreign cars: yes, you need one too.
It’s the same official sticker wherever you buy it, so ignore the resellers charging inflated fees; the markup buys you nothing.
Umweltzone Germany map: where the zones are
There is no single national polygon to look up; the zones cluster where the cities do. The densest block is the Ruhrgebiet in North Rhine-Westphalia, one zone spanning 13 municipalities including Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. Along the Rhine, Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Aachen run their own. Berlin has its own zone, Munich’s and Augsburg’s lie in Bavaria, and Stuttgart’s sits beside Ludwigsburg and Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg. Further north and east are Bremen, Leipzig, Halle and Magdeburg, and in Hesse Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt. The authoritative map is the Umweltbundesamt register linked under Sources; for a per-city answer about your own car, use the emission zone checker, and for the national overview see the Germany emission zones guide and driving in Germany.
The fine
Drive into an Umweltzone without a valid green sticker and it’s €100, fixed nationwide by the Bußgeldkatalog (no. 153), with no licence points. Police and parking enforcement check windscreens, and a hire car will pass the fine back to you with an admin fee. (See who pays a driving fine abroad for how that works.)
The catch: diesel restrictions
The federal register lists five diesel restrictions that apply on top of the green sticker:
- Stuttgart, whole Umweltzone: diesels up to Euro 4 barred since 1 January 2019.
- Stuttgart, kleine Umweltzone (Talkessel, Bad Cannstatt, Feuerbach, Zuffenhausen): diesels up to Euro 5 barred since 1 July 2020; residents and deliveries exempt.
- Munich, Umweltzone including the Mittlerer Ring: only diesels Euro 5 or newer since 1 February 2023; residents and deliveries exempt.
- Darmstadt, Heinrichstraße and Hügelstraße sections: diesels up to Euro 5 and petrol cars up to Euro 2 barred since 1 June 2019.
So an older diesel with a green sticker can still be turned away in those places. Hamburg’s former street bans are no longer on the register. Check your exact vehicle against the city zone with the emission-zone checker before you drive in.
Before you drive in Germany
- Fit a green Umweltplakette, ordered 2-3 weeks ahead if you’re abroad.
- Confirm your car qualifies for green (petrol Euro 1 with catalytic converter or later; diesel Euro 4, or Euro 3 with filter; EVs yes, and with an E-plate or blue E badge no sticker is needed from 1 October 2026).
- If you drive a diesel below Euro 6, check Stuttgart, Munich and Darmstadt separately.
- Keep the sticker on the windscreen, clearly visible.
As with every driving penalty, insurance won’t cover the fine — but at around €5 for the sticker, this is a cheap one to get right.
Renting a car for a trip through the Umweltzonen
A car hired in Germany is registered there and normally already carries a green Umweltplakette, so check the windscreen at pick-up rather than assuming. A car hired in Austria, the Netherlands or France is a different case: the sticker is issued against the registration document and posted out, which takes 7-14 days, so a car collected the morning you drive into Germany usually cannot get one in time. If your route runs through Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart or Cologne, collecting the car inside Germany is the simple fix. Germany charges cars no motorway toll or vignette, so the sticker is the only windscreen item you need. The €100 fine reaches you through the rental firm; our page on what changes when a hire car crosses a border covers the rest.
Sources
- Umweltbundesamt, federal register of Umweltzonen and diesel restrictions
- Bußgeldkatalog-Verordnung, annex, no. 153 (EUR 100)
- BImSchV, annex 3 no. 11 (E-plate cars exempt, in force 1 October 2026, BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 278); Fahrzeug-Zulassungsverordnung section 11 (E-plate; blue E badge for foreign-registered EVs)
- Service Berlin, applying for the Umweltplakette (fee and delivery time)
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Frequently Asked Questions
It's a fixed €100 fine for driving in a German Umweltzone without a valid sticker, set by the federal fine catalogue (BKatV no. 153) and the same everywhere, with no licence points. Foreign-registered cars are not exempt, and a hire company that receives the notice will pass it on to you, usually with an admin fee.
Registration offices charge from about €5: Berlin's costs €5 at the counter and €6 online including postage. TÜV, DEKRA and many garages also issue it, and the disc is valid for the life of the vehicle. Order online 2-3 weeks before the trip if you are abroad, since delivery by post takes 7-14 days. It is the same official sticker wherever you buy it, so avoid third-party sites charging inflated service fees.
41 cities, including most large ones: Berlin, Munich (München), Cologne (Köln), Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Bremen, Dortmund, Leipzig and many more; the federal register counts them as 35 zones because the Ruhrgebiet zone alone spans 13 municipalities. Each zone is marked with an 'Umweltzone' sign showing the sticker colours allowed, in practice green only. Hamburg has never had one.
Green goes to petrol cars that meet Euro 1 with a regulated catalytic converter or any later standard, which covers almost every petrol car on the road, and to diesels that meet Euro 4, or Euro 3 with an approved particulate filter. Electric and fuel-cell cars get green automatically, and since 1 October 2026 a car with a German E-plate, or the blue E badge for foreign-registered EVs, needs no sticker at all. Older diesels get yellow, red or nothing and are barred from the zones. The green sticker settles the standard Umweltzone, but not the separate diesel restrictions below.
Separately from the green sticker, the federal register lists five diesel restrictions. Stuttgart bars diesels up to Euro 4 across its whole Umweltzone (since 2019) and up to Euro 5 in the 'kleine Umweltzone' of the Talkessel, Bad Cannstatt, Feuerbach and Zuffenhausen (since July 2020). Munich admits only Euro 5 or newer diesels inside its Umweltzone, including the Mittlerer Ring, since February 2023. Darmstadt bars diesels up to Euro 5 and petrol cars up to Euro 2 on sections of Heinrichstraße and Hügelstraße. Residents and delivery traffic are exempt in Stuttgart's small zone and in Munich.
No. Cars pay no motorway toll or vignette in Germany; the planned car toll was never introduced. The green Umweltplakette is an emission sticker, not a toll pass, and it is needed only to enter an Umweltzone. Only goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes pay a distance-based lorry toll; cars do not.
Yes. The rule applies to every vehicle in a German Umweltzone, whatever its plate. The green disc is the one that matters for entry, and driving in without a valid one costs a flat EUR 100.
The Umweltbundesamt publishes the federal register as an online map. The zones cluster in the Ruhrgebiet, along the Rhine, and in cities such as Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Leipzig.