Yahoo Finance Amsterdam to ban all diesel and petrol vehicles from 2030
Amsterdam will ban all “polluting” vehicles by 2030 in an effort to clean up the city’s air.
The Dutch city’s council published its “Clean Air Action Plan” on Thursday. The plan includes measures such as replacing all petrol and diesel cars, as well as motorcycles, with emission-free alternatives.
Starting next year, diesel cars predating 2005 will be banned from an area within Amsterdam’s A10 ring road. Further restrictions will be implemented over the next decade.
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These measures stem in part from government policy and agreements made by local municipalities with the country’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the council said.
The council said it hopes this will extend the lives of the city’s dwellers by at least three months. The average Amsterdam resident’s life is cut short by 13 months because of airborne pollution, according to the Dutch health ministry.
The city’s current levels of nitrogen dioxide and particle matter emissions have been found to lead to respiratory illnesses. Chronic exposure can be fatal.
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“Pollution often is a silent killer and is one of the greatest health hazards in Amsterdam,” Sharon Dijksma, the city’s traffic councillor, told Reuters.
The most effective way to change this is to introduce emissions-free transport, Dijksma said.
“This is something the city council has a direct effect on, hence my mission to make Amsterdam the world capital of emissions-free mobility.”
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In 2016, Dutch environmental organisation Milieudefensie found the air in Amsterdam is so polluted, residents suffer the same health detriments from breathing it as they would from smoking six cigarettes a day.
“We must and will do everything to improve the situation,” the Amsterdam city council said.
