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Four cities announce landmark ban on diesel vehicles
December 8, 2016
Four cities announce landmark ban on diesel vehicles
Gregory Scruggs
December 8, 2016
MEXICO CITY — Diesel vehicles on city streets will soon be a thing of the past in Athens, Madrid, Mexico City and Paris. The leaders of those four cities last week announced a sweeping ban, set to take place by 2025, at an international mayors summit on climate change.
The move comes as cities worldwide are taking a harder look at how they can reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions in the transportation sector, and by extension improve their air quality. The four mayors signed a declaration focused on air quality and made clear that their intention was to send a signal to industry.
“Mayors have already stood up to say that the climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo during the announcement Friday at the biennial C40 Mayors Summit. “Today, we also stand up to say we no longer tolerate air pollution and the health problems and deaths it causes — particularly for our most vulnerable citizens. Big problems like air pollution require bold action, and we call on car and bus manufacturers to join us.”
Hidalgo and other mayors made the announcement as the French capital suffers its worst winter air pollution in a decade, according to broadcaster France24. A combination of vehicle emissions and forest fires have left a stagnant cloud of particulate matter over the city, smudging views of the Eiffel Tower. This week, Hidalgo tweeted an image of a smoggy Paris with the message: “#Paris today. Proof that it’s necessary to reduce the presence of cars in downtown #pollution.”
Read more at Citiscope.
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