France will stop selling diesel and gasoline cars entirely by 2040

• Jul. 6, 2017, 1:58 PM
• Four,156

A street in Paris, France. Pixabay

PARIS – France aims to end the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles by two thousand forty and become carbon neutral ten years later, Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said on Thursday at a presentation of measures to keep up momentum on the Paris climate agreement.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to press ahead with implementing the pact to fight climate switch after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark deal reached in the French capital in 2015.

Hulot introduced an array of measures under six themes and twenty three policy proposals, but most were brief of specific details on how exactly the objectives would be achieved.

“One of the symbolic acts of the plan is that France, which previously had made the promise to divide its greenhouse gas emissions by four by 2050, has determined to become carbon neutral by two thousand fifty following the US decision,” Hulot said.

“The carbon neutral objective will force us to make the necessary investments,” he added.

He said the proposals such as the decision to end the sale of fossil fuel powered vehicles was a tall order and would constitute something of a ‘revolution’, but solutions were available and French carmakers would be up to the task.

Diesel and gasoline vehicles represented about 95.Two percent of French fresh car fleets in the very first half of year, while electrified vehicles hold 1.Two percent of the market. Hybrid cars make up about Trio.Five percent.

Hulot cited the example of Geely’s Volvo that plans to go all electrical with fresh models from 2019, and noted India was also targeting an all-electric vehicles fleet by 2030.

Hulot said that even if France lagged countries such as Sweden and Costa Rica on this front, it would nevertheless embrace that ‘spirit’ and look to end the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2040.

Ending Fossil Fuels

Hulot said ending the use of fossil fuels was also central in the French objective to cut carbon emissions and become carbon neutral by 2050. Among the key policy proposals is the plan to end the delivery of hydrocarbon licenses in France, with legislation to that effect due later this year.

France will end coal-generated tens unit production by two thousand twenty two and the government maintained its objective of cutting the share of nuclear power generation in the French electro-stimulation makeup to fifty percent by 2025, from over seventy five percent at present.

“The two thousand twenty five date is the objective, I hope we will keep to it,” said Hulot.

France will also take measures to restrict the use of palm oil in the production of biofuels with the aim of reducing indirect deforestation.

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said that albeit the French government had carried out the right analysis of the situation, the proposals were brief of concrete measures to deal with the urgent challenges posed by climate switch.

“We are left wanting, on how these objectives will be achieved,” Greenpeace campaigner Cyrille Cormier said in a statement.

“The aim to end the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles by two thousand forty sends out a strong signal, but we would truly like to know what are the very first steps achieve this, and how to make this ambition something other than a frustration,” he said.

(Extra reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Gilles Guillaume, Benjamin Mallet, Sybille de La Hamaide and Gus Trompiz; Editing by Andrew Callus and Keith Weir)

Related movie: