Environmental penalty 2026: CO2 and weight scales, exemptions and fleet impact

What is the environmental penalty and when does it apply?

The environmental penalty refers to two separate taxes, due once, when a new passenger vehicle — or an imported second-hand one — is first registered in France: the CO2 emissions tax and the tax on curb weight. They add up, and it is the year of first registration that determines which scale applies.

For a fleet manager, these two taxes are not just another line item: they are paid at acquisition, they cannot be recovered, and they weigh directly on the total cost of ownership of each vehicle for as long as it is held.

The 2026 CO2 penalty scale

For a vehicle registered in 2026, the CO2 emissions tax is triggered from 108 g/km (WLTP cycle). The first bracket is €50, then the scale rises gram by gram up to its ceiling of €80,000, reached above 191 g/km.

A few reference points on this scale:

• below 108 g/km, no tax;

• 108 g/km: €50 — 120 g/km: €310 — 130 g/km: €983 — 140 g/km: €2,205;

• above 191 g/km: €80,000, however far the threshold is exceeded.

The progression is exponential: between a vehicle at 120 g/km (€310) and one at 160 g/km (€8,770), the gap exceeds €8,400 — often far more than the difference in list price. This is where an acquisition policy is really decided.

A separate scale, based on administrative horsepower, applies to vehicles that have not undergone EU type-approval.

The 2026 weight penalty scale

The tax on curb weight applies from 1,500 kg in 2026, against 1,600 kg for vehicles registered in 2025. Its scale is marginal, by bracket: each fraction of the weight is taxed at its own rate, and the amounts add up.

Fraction of the curb weight	Marginal rate
Up to 1,499 kg	€0
From 1,500 to 1,699 kg	€10 / kg
From 1,700 to 1,799 kg	€15 / kg
From 1,800 to 1,899 kg	€20 / kg
From 1,900 to 1,999 kg	€25 / kg
From 2,000 kg	€30 / kg

A vehicle weighing 1,950 kg is therefore taxed €6,775: 200 kg × €10, then 100 kg × €15, then 100 kg × €20, then 51 kg × €25. The curb weight is read in box G of the vehicle registration document — that is the figure that counts, not the kerb weight excluding equipment.

Exemptions and reductions

• 100% electric and hydrogen vehicles: exempt from both penalties.

• Plug-in hybrids (electric range in town above 50 km): the weight retained is reduced by 200 kg, capped at 15% of that weight. A 1,650 kg vehicle therefore drops to 1,450 kg and escapes the weight penalty.

• Non-plug-in hybrids and mild hybrids: a 100 kg reduction on the weight retained.

• Vehicles with at least 8 seats owned by a legal entity: a 600 kg allowance for a first registration from 1 January 2026, against 500 kg in 2024 and 2025.

• Vehicles adapted for people with disabilities: exempt.

What the penalty changes for a fleet

The CO2 threshold is falling, and so is the weight threshold. In practice, a growing share of vehicles that were not taxed yesterday are taxed today, and the same model bought a year later costs more to register.

Three practical consequences:

• The TCO is decided at purchase. The penalty is neither spread, nor recoverable, nor negotiable. A 1,900 kg combustion SUV at 160 g/km accumulates both taxes — €8,770 of CO2 penalty and €5,525 of weight penalty, €14,295 in total — which a model below both thresholds does not pay.

• The renewal calendar becomes a lever. A registration at the end of the year falls under the current year's scale; the same operation a few days later falls under the next, stricter one.

• The penalty stacks with annual taxation. It adds to the annual taxes on the use of vehicles (formerly TVS) and, for fleets of at least 100 vehicles, to the annual incentive tax in force since 1 March 2025.

How to reduce your fleet's penalty

• Electrify what can be electrified. An electric vehicle is exempt from both penalties. It is the only lever that cancels them both at once.

• Watch the weight as much as the CO2. Two vehicles with comparable emissions can differ by 300 kg, and it is sometimes the weight that tips the bill.

• Size the vehicle to its real use. An urban vehicle does not need to weigh 1.9 tonnes. A frugal specification has become a budget criterion, not only a sustainability argument.

• Check the stated range of plug-in hybrids. The 200 kg reduction is conditional on an electric range in town above 50 km, determined at type-approval.

• Simulate before ordering. Both scales are public and can be calculated in advance: the exact amount is known before signing, not discovered at registration.

How fleet management software helps you steer the penalty

Both scales are calculated from three pieces of data that already appear on each vehicle's registration document: the CO2 figure, the curb weight and the date of first registration. The difficulty is having them to hand at the moment two models are being compared.

Fleet management software such as Dadycar acts on exactly that point:

• Centralizing registration data for each vehicle — CO2, powertrain, entry date — instead of digging through purchase files.

• Comparing models before ordering on their monthly TCO and WLTP CO2 emissions, in the Catalog and Car Policy module (beta).

• Tracking the real weight of taxation in the fleet budget, and identifying the vehicles whose renewal costs more than expected.

• Tracking the share of low-emission vehicles for fleets subject to the annual incentive tax.

Conclusion

There is nothing unpredictable about the environmental penalty: both scales are published, they fall year after year, and the amount due for a given vehicle can be calculated before it is even ordered. What costs money is not the tax itself, it is discovering it at registration. An acquisition policy that factors in CO2 and weight from the shortlisting stage turns a constraint into a managed trade-off — and mechanically brings the fleet closer to its energy transition.