Car scrapping schemes are not green

European industry ministers will tomorrow discuss how the financial crisis is affecting the European car industry and call for so-called ‘scrapping schemes’ (taxpayer-funded payments to buyers of new cars who scrap an older model) on the premise that such a move would be good for the environment.

Studies have found that these schemes have a relatively high cost per tonne of pollution avoided.

The European organisation, Transport and Environment (T&E) T&E quotes an OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) study that found that “these schemes have a high average cost per ton of pollution avoided, and do not compare favourably with other alternative policy tools on purely environmental grounds.”

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Car scrapping schemes are good for boosting new car sales – they have very little to do with the environment and to suggest otherwise is misleading.”

Currently in Germany the government offers 2500 Euros to new car buyers when they scrap their existing vehicle regardless of the CO₂ emissions of the new model purchased. In theory it means that that means someone who scraps a 1999 Volkswagen Lupo TDi 3L, (81g CO₂/km) and buys a 2009 Porsche Cayenne Turbo (358g CO₂/km) would receive the taxpayer-funded payment.

Protests against car scrapping schemes

German campaigning organisation VCD has been encouraging members of the public to scrap an old car, but request a subsidy towards a rail season ticket or a new bicycle. So far over 5000 people have taken part and sent applications to the government, which has responded by threatening legal action!

What is the ETA?

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