Milan’s New Diesel Ban To Cause Ripple Effect
The city of Milan is getting set for a progressive ban on diesel cars, due to start as early as January 2019. The bold move was announced a few days ago by Milan’s mayor Giuseppe Sala at the annual Energy Festival in Rome. “It will be a delicate transition, but we think it’s time to do it,” said Sala.
While the announcement was unexpected – and very welcome by Greenpeace Italy representatives, who immediately expressed their praise and support – it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Political pressure on diesel cars has been mounting for some time, particularly following Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal. Further, Milan has a history of strong environmental policies and has already been implementing increasingly strict anti-pollution measures on vehicle traffic for a number of years. Most notably, a “congestion charge” scheme very similar to the one implemented in London, called Area C, is already in place for the historical town center. The new scheme will however encompass a wider area, to include the whole of the city.
The news from Milan should not be underestimated. The implications of such an extensive ban on a popular choice of engine – 43% of Italy’s car fleet, with diesel sales enjoying an incredible 55% market share in recent years including 2017 – will be evident very soon. For starters, sales of new diesels in the Milan area (albeit of the Euro 6 kind, unaffected by the scheme) will undoubtedly take a hit as citizens will prefer to avoid the risk of future stranding of their car. In turn, cleaner vehicles sales will benefit from an equivalent boost in numbers as people are forced to shift away. Further, the policy may prove to be of particular incentive towards pure electric models, which will be seen as the obvious choice by those who want to future-proof access to the city streets.
See https://cleantechnica.com/2018/06/15/milans-new-diesel-ban-to-cause-ripple-effect/
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Milan’s New Diesel Ban To Cause Ripple Effect | CleanTechnica The city of Milan is getting set for a progressive ban on diesel cars, due to start as early as January 2019. The bold move was announced a few days ago by Milan’s mayor Giuseppe Sala at the annual Energy Festival in Rome. The brave message on the transition to clean transport is a welcome milestone set to cause a ripple effect way beyond its city limits |