Currently reading: Netherlands closes in on 2025 petrol and diesel car ban
Dutch politicians continue to push for phasing out of road CO2 emissions

The Netherlands could become the first country in the world to ban the sale of diesel and petrol engined cars, if draft laws supported by leading Dutch politicians are enforced.

Earlier this year reports revealed that decision makers in the Netherlands and Norway were in favour of only allowing the sale of zero-emission vehicles in their countries from 2025. Now Yale Climate Connections (YCC) reports that the process in the Netherlands has gained traction, meaning the chances of the law being passed there are becoming increasingly likely.

Leading voice behind the campaign, Jan Vos of the Dutch Labour Party, told YCC that he believed the ban on combustion engined cars couldn’t be rolled out until electric vehicles are affordable and practical. But he reiterated the need to reduce emissions, saying: “We need to phase out CO2 emissions and we need to change our pattern of using fossil fuels if we want to save the Earth.”

The Netherlands has already cemented itself as a leading country in the uptake of zero and low-emission vehicles. Close to a quarter of new car sales are made up of fully electric vehicles, and certain models, such as the BMW 3 Series, have sold in vast numbers as hybrids, with 43% of registrations being for the 330e model.

Compared with the rest of Europe, where just 4% of 3 Series sales are hybrids, and the Netherland’s preference for low-emission vehicles is clear.

The Netherlands joined the International Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance last year, which aims to make all new vehicles use electric power by the year 2050.

The UK is also a member of the ZEV Alliance and trends here suggest British consumers are also beginning to switch to electric models. The number of plug-in hybrids registered increased from 3,500 cars in 2013 to more than 75,000 so far in 2016 (to the end of July), and demand for electric vehicles was up by 31.8% in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2015.

Independent bodies have begun to place pressure on the UK's government to reduce road traffic emissions. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has urged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to ban diesel cars from the capital’s centre, stating that road transport accounts for almost 15% of all emissions in London.

Other key countries calling for a ban in the sale of combustion engined cars are Germany and India, which have both suggested laws could be enforced from 2030.

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KiwiRob 16 August 2016

What about about Rotterdam?

And then there's Rotterdam, all those ships spewing out more co2 in a day than The Netherlands combined vehicle fleet could pollute in weeks. Oh and Schiphol, another huge source of pollution. Personal vehicles are just low hanging fruit and easy to tax.
xxxx 16 August 2016

Plane Alternative

KiwiRob wrote:

And then there's Rotterdam, all those ships spewing out more co2 in a day than The Netherlands combined vehicle fleet could pollute in weeks. Oh and Schiphol, another huge source of pollution. Personal vehicles are just low hanging fruit and easy to tax.

There's no commercial alternative to planes or ships but most trips of less than a hundred miles there's now an alternative and there'll be an even greater choice in 10 years

jagdavey 16 August 2016

Can't drive to Holland anymore???

If the Dutch ban the sales of Petrol/Diesel cars from 2025 (only 9 years away), where does that leave foreigners visiting the country in their non-electric cars???
Do they also get turned back at the borders???
And as always in these environmental issues, the Trucks that transport everything & the Busses will be exempt from this rule & continue to pollute !!!
Its always the private motorist that gets hit again...............
xxxx 16 August 2016

Future

jagdavey wrote:

If the Dutch ban the sales of Petrol/Diesel cars from 2025 (only 9 years away), where does that leave foreigners visiting the country in their non-electric cars???
Do they also get turned back at the borders???
And as always in these environmental issues, the Trucks that transport everything & the Busses will be exempt from this rule & continue to pollute !!!
Its always the private motorist that gets hit again...............

It’s the sale of NEW petrol or diesel cars, even if it does happen they’re still be using Diesel/ Petrol for another 10 years after that.

scotty5 15 August 2016

Pie in the Sky.

NL banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025. Is there anything preventing the Dutch crossing the border in to neighbouring Germany or Belgium and buying petrol/diesel vehicles from there?

Can't honestly see Dutch car dealerships being too happy loosing out to a dealership across the border. EU competition laws? All sounds very unlikely tbh.

Vertigo 16 August 2016

@ Scotty

Norway is already making combustion cars prohibitively difficult to buy, with 100% sales tax. If you're curious how the dealerships cope with such restrictions, ask a Norwegian franchise.
KiwiRob 16 August 2016

It's not 100%, it varies

It's not 100%, it varies based on a number of metrics. Taxation on motorvehicles is going to change in Norway, the govt is getting ready to dump the power tax, then tax will be purely on emissions. Electric vehicles will also start to be taxed in the very near future, I'm not sure what metric they will use to tax them, but they will be taxed.