Top 10 green cars in Europe 2015

July 3, 2015

Peugeot-Citroen tops league table of lowest carbon cars in Europe|CO2 table top 10 green cars

Peugeot-Citroën leads the top 10 green cars in Europe 2015 by becoming the lowest carbon car maker.


Among the major manufacturers, Honda continues to produce the least fuel-efficient cars (133 g/km) according to the a new report by European lobby group T&E. In testament to how quickly car makers can improve efficiency, rapid progress was made by Nissan in 2014, which reduced its emissions by 12%.

Overall, the European target of 130 g/km set for 2015 has already been achieved and only Honda, Suzuki and Hyundai have yet to meet it. The 95 g/km target, which equates to a 40% reduction from 2007, is expected to be met by 2021 but current performance varies widely between car makers. According to T&E, four companies will achieve the targets early, while seven others need to accelerate progress if they are to avoid fines.

Two car makers appear to be moving backwards - Ford and Hyundai increased their emissions in 2014.

Top 10 green cars

Top 10 green cars


Cars are responsible for around 12% of the EU’s CO2 emissions. As you can imagine, the implementation of the emissions targets are complex and stacked in favour of the manufacturers. Car makers pool the emissions across their brands to produce a sales-weighted average emissions figure. Those making heavier and more polluting cars are allowed greater flexibility. A new car in 2015 that is 100 kg heavier than average, is allowed a 4.57 g/km higher

CO2 target. Conversely, lighter than average cars get a tougher target. For every g/km by which a manufacturer exceeds its company target, it has to pay a €95 fine per vehicle sold. However, the law also includes incentives/loopholes including 7 g/km credits for ‘eco-innovation’, ‘super credits’ for low-emission cars which allow manufacturers to count each low emission vehicle more than once thereby diluting the overall CO2 reductions.

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Information correct at time of publication.

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