France to Ban Gas Vehicle Sales by 2040

Evening traffic near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. White House photo by Chris Greenberg

This month, France became the latest country to set a hard target on the phase-out of fossil-fuel vehicles when its environmental minister, Nicholas Hulot, announced that France would ban gas and diesel vehicle sales by 2040.  As part of the plan, poorer households will receive a premium so they can swap their polluting vehicles for clean alternatives.

The announcement was part of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron’s overall plan to make the country carbon neutral by 2050, which also includes ending the use of coal to generate electricity by 2022.  Hulot noted that earlier in the month, Volvo became the first European car manufacturer to say that they’ll stop selling gas-only vehicles, beginning in 2019.

The French plan setting a target date for phasing out fossil-fuel driven vehicle sales follows similar plans by the Netherlands and Norway to ban petrol and diesel vehicles by 2025, and by Germany and India eliminate them by 2030.

Read the article in the UK Independent HERE.