France’s Automobile Club opposes new “green certificates” against diesel

The Automobile Club Association said in a February statement that it is opposed to a decision by French transportation authorities to issue by the start of the summer a « green certificate » which is meant to identify vehicles with the cleanest emissions which will be the only ones allowed to travel in some urban areas.

« This is nothing else but the return of initiatives that have been abandoned in the past, »said Didier Bollecker, President de l’Automobile Club Association.

The association said that the initiative announced by authorities to identify vehicles with color codes to determine which are the cleanest and the ones allowed to circulate is discriminatory to older vehicles or diesel engines.

The association restated that if the government wants to reduce pollution and turn away from diesel engines it should move with the « progressive generalization of particle filters » which should solve the French pollution problems or threats at a lesser cost.

The association also said that helping French drivers finance the cost of changing cars or a faster distribution of vehicles manufactured according to Euro 6 regulations would also work as well without discriminating drivers of diesel or older engines.

Didier described the government actions as mere « sanctioning actions which follow policies that largely favored the purchase of diesel. »