Outline Act on Mobilities: the key points

The government intends first of all to strengthen certain existing schemes. It has confirmed the bonus/penalty system for new vehicle purchases on the basis of CO2 emissions. The penalty threshold will be made more stringent in 2019, reduced from today's 120 g/km to 117 g/km. The government has also announced its support for electric vehicle charging stations and the purchase of heavy goods vehicles powered by natural gas, hydrogen or electricity.

One of the ministers' key focuses is the development of low-emissions areas, consisting of permanently limiting the circulation of the most polluting vehicles in certain urban areas. Paris and Grenoble have already introduced such areas, and the ministers are encouraging other local authorities to do the same. They are focusing as a priority on 15 areas singled out by the European Commission, but the law will call for all agglomerations of over 100,000 inhabitants to 'assess the opportunity' for implementing low-emissions areas.

More broadly, to meet the carbon neutrality objective by 2050, the government is looking to 'favour alternative transport modes over individual car use'. To that end, it will be encouraging carpooling and carsharing, both by enabling local authorities to create special lanes and parking places and by introducing a favourable tax framework. Employers will be able to reimburse a part of their employees' carpooling fees through exonerations on contributions, based on the model used for public transport subscriptions.

The government also insists on bicycles being a 'priority item' and will be making specific announcements in September with the aim of increasing the use of bicycles from 3% to 9% of journeys by 2024.

The Credit Agricole S.A. Group is committed to this topic and has introduced a mobility plan following a study carried out at the St Quentin and Montrouge campuses. A number of initiatives have been implemented to offer employees alternatives to cars, including dialogue with the HR departments of the entities to pursue the development of teleworking, the improvement and development of the electric bike offering at the Montrouge site, and the promotion of carpooling proposals.