Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Brussels plans to ban over 600,000 old cars by 2025 to reduce pollution, but delays spark political debate and health concerns.
Since 2018, all 19 areas in Brussels have banned dirty cars to fight air pollution. This move helped reduce pollution a lot. The plan for 2025 is to ban more old cars, affecting around 600,000 vehicles and 150,000 vans in Belgium. But Flanders and Wallonia postponed this action, leading to requests, starting with the PS party, to do the same in Brussels. They mentioned that not everyone can afford a cleaner car.
Should Brussels Delay Low Emission Zone Changes?
After the June 9 elections, some parties suggested delaying the next phase until 2027, sparking a debate. Various groups, including Team Fouad Ahidar and others, made the LEZ a crucial topic for discussion. This disagreement caused the Mobility Minister to resign as the main negotiator. Apart from making politicians argue and NGOs say delaying is bad for people’s health, a note from Brussels Environment warns that pushing back the LEZ changes will cost Brussels money. If Brussels waits two more years, they might have to pay a big fine to the EU.
If Brussels delays the LEZ changes, they might emit 188.1 kilotonnes more CO2 by 2030, missing the EU targets by 4%. This could lead to a fine of €19 million for the region. The ideas to delay the LEZ changes are being talked about today in the Brussels Parliament’s Environment Committee, even though this falls under government responsibility.
