France launches radical green tax on bigger cars

French drivers who favour large, gas-guzzling cars will have to pay up to EUR3,500 (£2,300) more for a new model from next January under a radical green road tax scheme unveiled by the environment ministry.



The UK Guardian reports that part of a new environment bill aimed at cutting air, water and soil pollution over the next five years, the scheme will also reward drivers who opt for smaller, cleaner vehicles with payouts of up to EUR700.



"It‘‘s a carrot-and-stick approach that should cost the taxpayer nothing but should make motorists think twice about the kind of car they need, and the kind of car they buy," an environment ministry spokesman said.



Final details of the scheme, such as whether the tax (or rebate) will be paid at the dealership or at the local vehicle licensing centre, have yet to be worked out. But the spokesman said he thought there was "very little doubt" that the plan would go ahead as planned on January 1. Under the scheme, all new cars sold in France will be divided into five classes, from the least polluting to the most.



Most mid-sized family cars, such as the Renault Scenic, will fall into middle "neutral" band, category C, and be liable for neither a surcharge or a rebate, the spokesman said. But smaller runabouts that emit less than 140g per kilometre of carbon monoxide, the main greenhouse effect gas, will benefit from a rebate ranging from EUR200 to 700, as will diesel cars fitted with filters to remove harmful fine particles from their exhaust.



And at the other end of the scale, drivers who opt for a large luxury saloon with a powerful engine emitting more than 180g of CO2, or for an outsized, diesel-driven four-by-four not fitted with a particle filter, will face a surcharge ranging from EUR1,500 to 3,500.



According to the ministry, of the two million new cars sold in France each year, roughly one million will fall into category C and not be affected by the measure. The income from the 350,000 big-engined cars sold annually will be used directly to pay the rebates on the 670,000 smaller, more environment-friendly models.



According to a recent study by AFSSE, the French Environmental Health and Safety Agency, some 7% of premature deaths from lung cancer and respiratory or cardiovascular problems in France each year could be directly attributable to the pollution from vehicle exhausts.



"More than 30,000 people die in France each year from atmospheric pollution, and between seven and 20% of all cancers have an environmental origin – the government can no longer remain indifferent," said the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, presenting a National Health and Environment Plan of which the green road tax is the most radical component.



The plan follows a controversial decision earlier this month by Paris town council to try to ban bulky 4x4s from the streets of the capital. The increasingly popular off-roaders are among the most environmentally harmful vehicles on the market, emitting up to four times as much CO2 as a normal car and only doing about 12 mpg in urban traffic conditions.



"Off-road vehicles are just not suited to towns and you have to wonder why people drive them," said Denis Baupin, a senior Green party councillor in Paris who tabled the resolution. "They‘‘re polluters, they‘‘re space-occupiers, they‘‘re dangerous for pedestrians and other road users. They‘‘re a caricature of a car."

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