Strasbourg Eurometropolis will roll out LEZ

The council of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg (EMS) has voted to set up a low-emission zone (LEZ) with an expected timetable for the gradual banning of the most polluting vehicles for the Alsatian capital and the 32 surrounding communes.

The LEZ is scheduled to come into force on 1 January 2022, with a so-called ‘training year’ following, while vehicles classified as Crit’Air 5 or not classified will be banned. Cars classified as Crit’Air 4 and 3 will be banned in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Due to the approval Friday by the city council, France will now receive a fifth LEZ zone, after Lyon metropolis, Grenoble-Alpes-Métropole, the City of Paris, and Greater Paris.

Accompanying measures

“The LEZ will be progressive, pedagogic, agile, and will largely accompany the population and the economic actors in this major transition,” says Pia Imbs, president of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg (EMS), not directly attached to a political party but close to the ecologists.

A budget of 50 million euros in aid will accompany individuals and professionals toward alternative mobility to the individual car. This amount is in addition to the 500 million euros allocated to free transport for minors, in place since September, and the extension of pubic transport networks with the Grand Est Region and the SNCF, and cycle paths.

Other French cities will follow

The EMS will certainly not be the last metropolitan agglomeration in France to introduce the LEZ. The recent Climate and Resilience Act extends this scheme to all urban areas in France with more than 150 000 inhabitants by 2025.

The EMS is one of the 11 French metropolises for which the French State has been condemned for regularly exceeding air pollution thresholds. This pollution is responsible for many premature deaths and chronic illnesses within the EMS. Moreover, it substantially impacts vulnerable groups (children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with chronic diseases, etc.).

Already adopted by 200 European cities, the LEZ is recognized as being particularly effective in reducing pollutant emissions from road traffic, as cars are one of the primary sources of pollution in inner cities.