ZFE: radars and fines, new cities and vehicles concerned… from Toulouse to Paris, where are we with their deployment?

And here are the ZFEs again… As of January 1, 2025, around thirty towns French will have to deploy low emission zones (ZFE) in order to limit the circulation of the most polluting vehicles. Since January 1, 2024, 12 large French cities, including Paris, Lyon, Toulouse or even Niceapply restrictive measures targeting in particular Crit'Air 4 and 5 vehicles. These restrictions aim to encourage motorists to opt for less polluting vehicles – hybrid or electric – or to favor public transport and so-called “soft” modes of travel.

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The law thus requires 30 additional cities, including Lille, Bordeaux and Rennes, to set up ZFEs from the start of the year. The first restrictions will target vehicles “unclassified” (without Crit'Air sticker), i.e. cars registered before 1997 and utility vehicles dating from before September 1997. However, each territory remains free to tighten these rules.

If certain metropolises, such as Paris and Lyon, will impose from 2025 restrictions on Crit'Air 3 vehicles (diesel registered before 2011 and gasoline registered before 2006), others, such as Marseille or Toulouse, are exempt due to the improvement in their air quality.

Reprieve for Crit'Air 3 vehicles

Made obligatory by the climate and resilience law of 2021, the ZFE is not imposed everywhere in the same way, and is often accompanied by adjustments aimed at limiting its effects. Example in Paris: while motorists with a Crit'Air 3 vehicle were to be prohibited from driving in the Greater Paris ZFE from January 1, 2025, the metropolis announced at the beginning of December that they could finally benefit from a “24-hour pass” for 24 days to travel freely there, in addition to weekends, i.e. 139 days in total. In Toulouse, the measure concerning the Crit'Air 3 was also suspended. The metropolis justifies this decision by its successful efforts to keep nitrogen dioxide concentrations below regulatory thresholds since 2020.

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In addition, the law provides for exceptions for certain categories: people with long-term illnesses, caregivers, or even technical and collection vehicles. Financial aid, such as “social leasing” or bonuses for the purchase of clean vehicles, have also been put in place to support users in this transition. Although checks are still rare, fines of 68 euros (third class) are provided for offenders. In order to strengthen regulation, automatic radars should also be installed by 2026 to automate traffic controls in ZFEs. The government has promised a gradual rollout of this technology to ensure restrictions are respected.

“Areas of strong exclusion”

While the environmental objective of EPZs seems unavoidable, their social acceptance remains a challenge. Christophe Béchu, former Minister of Ecological Transition, recognized that ZFEs were sometimes perceived as “zones of strong exclusion”.

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Much of the criticism comes from the high cost of less polluting vehicles, even on the second-hand market. According to Force Ouvrière, “one in two French people cannot afford a 'clean' vehicle, which pushes many of them to choose between 'the end of the month and the end of the world'”. The union, like others, warns of the risks of a “social bomb” if more inclusive solutions are not found.

The emergency persists on air quality

At the same time, public health issues remain crucial. Although air quality has improved significantly since the 2000s, it remains below European thresholds, with pollution levels responsible for 40,000 premature deaths per year in France, according to Santé Publique France. In 2024, less than half of the agglomerations concerned would respect the European threshold of 40 µg/m³ for nitrogen dioxide. This figure will have to decrease further, since Europe plans to lower this threshold to 20 µg/m³ by 2030, imposing, in fact, additional efforts on the territories.