The Amsterdam city council has announced plans to ban petrol and diesel cars, leaving only electric ones by 2030. This ban is part of the Clean Air Action Plan (Actieplan Schone Lucht). The hope is that by doing so, the air in the city becomes cleaner and residents’ life expectancy is prolonged.

Phasing out polluting vehicles

Amsterdam residents “live a year less on average due to dirty air”, says transport chief Sharon Dijksma. By banning diesel and petrol cars from the city, residents could live three months longer on average. The plan also covers trucks, mass transit vehicles and boats.

At the end of this month, the plan will be debated by the full city council, after which the public will be allowed to comment on it during a six-week period. The Clean Air plan doesn’t mean diesel cars will be banned from one day to the next. The city wants to gradually phase them out, starting with a ban next year on diesel-powered cars predating 2005 in the A10 ring area.

In 2022, freight traffic in this area must meet Euro 6 standards and emission-free vehicles must be used for public transport south of Amsterdam Central station. In this year, the first evaluation of the project will be carried out too. After another three years, the area inside the A10 will become emission free, affecting taxis, mopeds, scooters, buses, coaches and boats. By 2030, all vehicles producing emissions will no longer be allowed in the inner city.

Moving towards an emission-free Amsterdam

A few weeks ago, the Dutch government gave cities the option to ban old diesel cars from environmental zones. The ban in Amsterdam would affect around 4.100 cars and the city will need 16.000 to 23.000 car charging stations by 2025 to make the project a success. The city currently has 3.000 of these charging stations.

“The switch to emission-free travel will require everyone to contribute: companies, residents and visitors,” Dijksma expressed. However, moving to emission-free travel does not mean that residents or businesses will have to fork out large amounts of cash all of a sudden, as in order to make the transition easier, subsidies and exemption schemes will be made available. This way, one can, for example, purchase a “clean” vehicle. Those choosing clean transport will also get certain privileges, such as a parking permit.

In other Dutch environmental news…

UK company Innocent Drinks is setting up a CO2-neutral factory in the Port of Rotterdam! They will start building in the last quarter of 2019 and the new factory will provide over 200 new jobs. The factory will go about being CO2-neutral by consolidating its supply chain network- saving more than 250 road tanker journeys per week and taking 93 percent of its tankers off the road, reducing water use and reusing waste, along with other initiatives.