Double aid, one-stop shop… Cities offer 25 solutions to make low-emission zones “acceptable”

State aid for the purchase of less polluting vehicles should be doubled to make “acceptable and therefore effective” low emission zones (ZFE), according to a report submitted to the government on Monday July 10 by France urbaine. Among its 25 solutions, the association, which represents the major French cities, also proposes to facilitate the purchase of these vehicles with an extension of zero-rate loans and a one-stop shop that would bring together the available aid, which varies from city to city. .

Urban France also recommends introducing exemptions for “little riders”, such as the elderly, who rarely use their car. It also wishes to make eligible for State aid the inhabitants of the territories neighboring the EPZs, who are also affected.

Measures presented in the fall by the government

The document presented on Monday by Jean-Luc Moudenc (president of the metropolis of Toulouse) and Anne-Marie Jean (vice-president of the metropolis of Strasbourg) also intends “evolve the Crit’Air sticker” to take into account the actual level of pollution of each vehicle, beyond its year of registration. Another idea: “strengthen mobility alternatives” such as metropolitan buses and RERs, cycling or carpooling. On the professional side, heavy goods vehicles and light commercial vehicles would have the right to use Crit’air 2 until 2030.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition will draw inspiration from this report to present social “acceptability” measures in the fall for the establishment of EPZs, said the Minister of Ecological Transition. “The goal of these ZFEs is not to annoy the French”or of “making ‘yellow vests'”. “It is to act on the number of deaths linked to air pollution”underlined Christophe Béchu.