France to award up to $ 1,200 to those who take their cars to the scrapyard to buy a bicycle

The French deputies voted in the night of Friday to Saturday a provision creating a system of bonus for those who take their car to the scrapyard to buy a bicycle instead., also if it is powered by an electric battery.

Deputy Jean-Marc Zulesi, promoter of this amendment to the climate law which is being parliamentary, highlighted on his Twitter account the approval and explained that this represents a extension of the device that encourages the renovation of a car for another more efficient in terms of energy.

The new article establishes that the aid will be for “The acquisition of its own vehicles, including bicycles and pedal bikes”, provided that polluting vehicles are scrapped.

Also by the change of vehicles equipped with thermal engines (gasoline or diesel) for other electric vehicles or by installing equipment to improve safety.

The amount of these bonuses remains to be defined, even if the promoters expect them to be at least 40 or 50% of the value of an electric bike, which could mean between 500 ($ 605) and 1000 euros ($ 1190).

With the coronavirus crisis and the desire to avoid public transport, the use and sales of bicycles have grown strongly in France.

Despite closing stores for more than three months due to closures, in 2020 they increased by 1.7% in number up to 2,684,800. In value, this increase was 25%, up to € 3 billion ($ 3.57 billion).

The reason is that they were marketed 514 672 bicycles, 29% more than in 2019 and represented 19% of the total in volume and 56% in value.

The National Assembly also approved last night other provisions of the climate law which aims to reduce pollution caused by parking, highlighted by the government in a press release on Saturday.

On the one hand, to the ban on the marketing of cars using fossil fuels by 2040, a step in 2030 when only 5% of new vehicles will be able to emit more than 95 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer.

Last year, more than half of registered cars exceeded this emission threshold.

In addition, From 2040, trucks, buses or coaches that use mainly fossil fuels will no longer be sold, which will at least force their hybridization.

MEPs approved several articles that will facilitate the deployment of charging stations for electric vehicles. For example, when an individual wishes to install one in his parking space in an apartment building, the decision will be made at neighborhood assembly by simple majority and no longer qualified as before.

Penalties for those who commit a “crime of ecocide”

In November last year, the French government announced that the creation of a “crime of ecocide” to prevent and punish serious damage to the environment, which stems from a proposal from the Citizen’s Convention on the Climate.

“Today there are those who choose to pollute because it costs them less than cleaning. This will change (…). I hope that we are extremely dissuasive ”, said the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti in an interview in the weekly Sunday newspaper. “Before, we polluted, we didn’t pay. Now we pollute, we pay ten times more than what we thought we would save ”, stood out.

(With information from EFE, AFP and Europa Press)

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