Italy is weighing the possibility of banning, like France and the United Kingdom, the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2040. Incentives for public transport are planned for 2018.
Italy is trying to keep pace with France and the United Kingdom and is studying the possibility of banning the sale of petrol and diesel motorcycles and cars from 2040 — the very same date recently set by the governments of Paris and London. For now, however, this is merely a proposal, contained alongside other measures in a resolution approved by the Environment and Labour committees of the Senate, which precisely "commits the government to evaluating the possibility" of introducing a provision to this effect starting with the 2018 budget law: nothing binding, at least for the moment, but it is encouraging that the approval was unanimous.
Among the other measures the government commits to evaluating is making road tax and parking charges progressive taxes — that is, with amounts that increase according to the vehicle's level of pollution. At the same time, the government is called upon to give a major push in favour of investment in local public transport, electric vehicles and cycle lanes.
The resolution is the work of two senators from the Partito democratico, Laura Cantini and Stefano Vaccari, who call on the government "to act immediately on sustainable mobility — a sensitive sector, given that in Italy the use of private vehicles is increasing and in 2016 the number of car commuters grew by two million. The key points are penalising the use of fossil-fuel transport in order to drive uptake of alternatives, to the great benefit of urban quality and the fight against climate change."
The key, however, lies in the statement: "We must also strengthen local public transport, through a gradual increase in the resources already allocated through to 2033 to bring the average age of buses down to seven years — the EU average — and require companies to purchase at least 50 per cent of new buses running on alternative fuels. It is urgently necessary to introduce a tax deduction for local public transport season tickets, already in the 2018 budget law. And the 65 per cent tax bonus must be extended to the purchase of low-emission vehicles as well."
For most of these measures the target is set for the coming year, but 2040 is also closer than it may seem.