Paris mayor plans to triple SUV parking tariffs to cut air pollution

Paris will hold a referendum on 4 February asking residents to vote for or against a specific parking tariff for large SUVs. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty

Paris intends to triple parking charges for large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in order to push them out of the city and limit emissions and air pollution, the mayor has said.

“It is a form of social justice,” Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday of the plan to deliberately target the richest drivers to tackle the climate breakdown and air pollution. “This is about very expensive cars, driven by people who today have not yet made the changes to their behaviour that have to be made [for the climate].”