France is planning to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, the enviroment minister has said.
Nicolas Hulot made the revelation under the wing of new French President Emmanuel Macron to make France carbon neutral by 2050.
As per the plan, which Hulot has admitted will put pressure on French car manufacturers, poorer households will receive a premium when they were to exchange their vehicle for a cleaner one.
Hulot told reporters at a press conference that France would cut out coal usage for electricity by 2022.
He said:
We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people’s daily lives.
The news comes after Volvo announced on Wednesday it would exclusively build electri vehicles starting from 2019.
ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said of the move:
This is a huge statement of intent from the French government and an example of how we’re likely to see exponential change in the coming years as governments grapple with the necessary changes we have to make for air quality and our climate.
Coming hot on the heels of Volvo’s announcement yesterday, the outlook for the internal combustion engine is bleak. This is now clearly the direction of travel and industry players who are not on board will find themselves struggling before long.
These moves should be heeded by other governments and industry, who need to act to protect us from air pollution in our towns and cities and help mitigate climate change.
Holland, Norway, Germany and India have all also expressed their desire to get rid of petrol and diesel vehicles .
