Crit'Air vignette: these cities where it will become compulsory in 2026
By 2026, many French metropolises will impose the use of the Crit'Air vignette in their Low emissions (ZFE) areas. Here is the list of cities concerned and the associated issues.
Cities ZFE 2026: the full list of areas with compulsory Crit'Air
Since January 1, 2025, The Crit'Air sticker is compulsory to circulate in areas with low mobility emissions (ZFE-M) of several French agglomerations. Here is the list of cities concerned today, and those that will be in 2026:
- Paris and the Métropole du Grand Paris: since January 1, 2025
- Aix-Marseille: since January 1, 2025
- Angers: since January 1, 2025
- Annecy: since January 1, 2025
- Annemasse: since January 1, 2025
- Bordeaux: since January 1, 2025
- Caen: since January 1, 2025
- Clermont-Ferrand: since January 1, 2025
- Grenoble: since January 1, 2025
- Le Havre: since January 1, 2025
- Lille: since January 1, 2025
- Lyon: since January 1, 2025
- Montpellier: since January 1, 2025
- Nancy: since January 1, 2025
- Nantes: since January 1, 2025
- Nice: since January 1, 2025
- Nîmes: since January 1, 2025
- Pau: Since January 1, 2025
- Reims: since January 1, 2025
- Rennes: since January 1, 2025
- Rouen: since January 1, 2025
- Saint-Etienne: since January 1, 2025
- Strasbourg: since January 1, 2025
- Toulouse: since January 1, 2025
- Tours: since January 1, 2025
Future :
- Mulhouse: set up between the end of 2025 and early 2026 (first concerning heavy goods vehicles and utilities)
- Perpignan: from January 1, 2026
- Avignon: from the summer of 2025
- Passen-Casque Agglomeration Community (Bayonne region): from June 1, 2025, exclusion of Crit'Air 5 vehicles and not classified
Also, note that holders of an inclusion mobility card (CMI) will be able to circulate freely, without the Crit'Air sticker obligation.
ZFE 2026: What new restrictions for motorists?
For several years, ZFE has multiplied in the major French cities. According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, 75 % of nitrogen dioxide emissions in urban areas come from road traffic, justifying these progressive restrictions.
The Crit'Air classification, which categorizes vehicles in six levels according to their polluting emissions, determines access to these regulated areas. In 2023, around 40 % of the French car fleet was made up of classified vehicles Crit'Air 3 or more, therefore potentially affected by future prohibitions.
If the supporters of the system see an ecological necessity in the face of the 48,000 premature deaths linked to air pollution each year in France, its detractors denounce a measure which especially impacts modest foci. According to an INSEE study, 58 % of households with the lowest incomes have a classified old vehicle Crit'Air 3, 4 or 5, making the adaptation costly and difficult.
