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Where in France are low-emission zone restrictions being eased?
Only five French cities will be required to stick to the current timetable of restricting vehicles based on their pollution ranking
Low-emission zones in all but five French cities will be able to ease restrictions on certain vehicles and introduce measures at a slower pace, the government has confirmed.
There are 43 urban zones in France required to operate low-emission zones (zone à faibles émissions-mobilité, ZFE-m; or zone à faibles émissions, ZFE).
The zones aim to improve air quality in cities and towns by restricting access to the most polluting vehicles.
That is done using the Crit’Air system, which ranks vehicles according to their emissions.
Of the 12 French cities that have introduced a low-emission zone, only five will need to keep the current restrictions in place and stick to the existing calendar for bringing in further ones.
They are:
- Paris
- Lyon
- Aix-Marseille
- Rouen
- Strasbourg
That means banning vehicles with a Crit’Air 4 ranking from January 1, 2024, followed by those with a Crit’Air 3 rating a year later.
Read more: A guide to Crit’Air stickers in France
Read more: Driving in France: Where must you have a Crit'Air pollution sticker?
However, seven other operational ZFEs will be allowed to ease restrictions and slow down their introduction of future measures.
They are:
- Grenoble
- Nice
- Reims
- Montpellier
- Toulouse
- Saint-Étienne
- Toulon
The French government claimed that as air quality across France is improving “year on year”, the restrictions in these seven low-emission zones do not need to be as stringent.
There are further 31 cities or towns that have to introduce low-emission zones by January 1, 2025. They must just restrict access to cars registered before December 31, 1996, and which do not have a Crit'Air sticker
The death of low-emission zones in France?
Although low-emission zones will still exist, and gradually be introduced in more places, critics of this change have warned that the easing of restrictions is a “scandal” and will herald their “death”.
The government has stated the changes will make ZFEs more “socially fair and accepted”.
But the director of clean air campaign group Respire, Tony Renucci, said: “They [the government] haven’t understood a thing. Air quality is improving, but it’s bad in France. People die [from pollution] every year.
“I think these measures are the death of the ZFEs. What’s been announced is a U-turn. It’s very hypocritical. We cannot say that we have complied with emission thresholds when we know today that they are far too high in relation to the health emergency.
“Either the government is completely ignorant of the subject, or it is doing this in full knowledge of the facts, in which case it is a hypocritical and even dangerous abandonment of public health.
“I think it's a scandal. They haven’t understood anything about the urgency of our air quality.”
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