The Netherlands is joining Denmark and Norway in discussing the possibility of banning gas and diesel vehicles by 2025.
The initial proposal was first pushed by left-wing contingents in the country’s Labor Party. It called for an outright ban of all petrol and diesel cars. The plan was eventually modified to include only the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
The proposal has been passed by the parliament’s lower house. It must now pass the Dutch Senate before being made official.
One of the main politicians behind the bill, Jan Vos, thinks the ban will likely become law, though he readily acknowledges that the ban probably won’t do much to end gas and diesel vehicles. Electric cars are simply not affordable enough for citizens to replace fossil fuel vehicles.
Vos also thinks the ban will help curb global warming.
“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,” he told reporters Aug. 11.
The oil dependent country of Norway also flirted in June with the idea of banning gas-powered vehicles by 2025.
Norway’s ban, which has received support from political parties on the left and the right, is pegged to be the most aggressive anti-gasoline energy policies of its kind in the world – the irony, of course, is that Norway is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels in the entire world.
India and Denmark have discussed the possibility of banning gas-powered cars as well, but India’s policy would begin five years after Norway’s, in 2030, and the Dutch parliament is heavily divided on its version of the ban, which would start in 2025.
The ban proposal in Norway may be more feasible, as one in three new cars in the country is electric, thanks to government subsidies propping up the electric vehicle market. Norway was the first European country to get Tesla supercharging stations.
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