Car makers are going green, but British motorists are not

Car makers are being forced to make significant cuts in their vehicles’ CO₂ emissions, but some countries appear reluctant to buy the greenest models – British motorists languish at sixteenth place in a league table of who buys the most polluting models in Europe, according to a study carried out on behalf of the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

Portuguese drivers are the greenest in Europe when it came to buying cars last year with an average CO₂ rate of 138g/km (eg. VW Polo) – the least green motorists are from Latvia with a figure of 177g/km (eg. Suburu Imprezza). The average British driver comes sixteenth in the list with 158g/km (eg. VW Passat).

EU regulation is striving to cut the CO₂ emitted by cars to an average figure of 130 g/km by 2015.

Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis, said: “Car makers can build green cars, but they need us to buy them. The report found that strict new emissions laws are having a strong effect on the availability of cleaner cars, but wealth, motoring taxes, fuel prices and consumer attitudes, which vary wildly from country to country across Europe, have much more of an effect on how clean a car is chosen.”

“There was a fuss in Britain when road tax increased for the most-polluting cars, but we are lax by European standards – we need a more sophisticated carrot and stick approach to encouraging people to drive lighter cars if we want to do better in next year’s league table.”

Countries by average CO₂ for cars sold in 2008

Ranking in 2008	Country	Average car CO2 2008(g/km)	Average car CO2 2007	Ranking in 2007
1	Portugal	138	144	1
2	France	140	149	4
3	Italy	145	147	2
4	Denmark	146	160	12
5	Malta	147	148	3
6	Belgium	148	153	5
7	Spain	148	153	6
8	Poland	153	154	7
9	Hungary	153	155	10
10	Czech Republic	154	154	8
11	Slovenia	156	156	11
12	Romania	156	155	9
13	Ireland	157	162	13
14	Netherlands	158	165	15
15	Austria	158	163	16
16	Great Britain	158	165	16
17	Luxembourg	160	166	18
18	Greece	161	165	17
19	Finland	163	165	22
20	Germany	165	169	19
21	Cyprus	166	170	20
22	Lithuania	170	177	21
23	Sweden	174	181	23
24	Estonia	177	182	24
25	Latvia	181	183	25

Car makers by average CO₂ in 2008

Ranking in 2008	Manufacturer group	Ranking in 2007	Average CO2 emissions per car sold in 2008 (g/km)
1	Fiat	2	138
2	Peugeot-Citroen	1	139
3	Renault	3	143
4	Toyota	4	147
5	Hyundai	7	149
6	Ford	8	152
7	GM	5	153
8	Honda	6	154
9	BMW	12	154
10	Suzuki	9	156
11	Mazda	13	158
12	VW	10	159
13	Nissan	11	161
14	Daimler	14	175

Ends

For an interview or a copy of the report in full please contact Yannick Read at the ETA press office on 0845 389 1064

• The report was conducted by the European lobby group Transport & Environment, an organisation co-founded and supported by the ETA. The report can be downloaded in full via: www.transportenvironment.org/docs/2009_09_car_company_co2_report_final.pdf

• The Environmental Transport Association is provides carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products. As well as encouraging responsible driving to reduce carbon, the ETA campaigns for sustainable transport www.eta.co.uk

• The ETA each year analyses the environmental performance of every new car on sale in Britain. The greenest car on sale in Britain this year is the Honda Insight Hybrid