Can you be green and drive a car?

Byline: PATRICE JOHN

It depends on which choices you make In the first of our three-part Green Transport series we look at whether or not you can be too green to drive. With rising fuel costs and looming rises in car tax for vehicles that pollute, is driving becoming far too expensive and damaging for the environment? And is it possible to care about the planet and still career down the motorway? Environment Correspondent PATRICE JOHN investigates all sides of the argument

LEADING environmental body the Energy Saving Trust is urging car manufacturers, dealers and drivers to get educated about CO2 emissions.

In its report Driven, the organisation found that car buyers are making "poor choices, both economically and environmentally" when it comes to buying new cars.

Chief executive Philip Sellwood says drivers need adequate information about emissions if they are to make the right choices.

"The bottom line is that, at the moment, the car market is failing," he says.

"There is no good reason why at a time of rising fuel prices and higher vehicle excise duties for higher CO2 vehicles, people are continuing to buy inefficient cars. It's not good for the environment or the pockets of customers.

"While car manufacturers are starting to place CO2 information more prominently in their advertising, this is only helpful up to a certain point.

"For many years, manufacturers have marketed the highercarbon vehicles within a vehicle range as better quality, more expensive, faster and even more desirable, influencing consumers to make irrational choices with regard to fuel and running costs.

"Dealers are making inroads by displaying information on the cost implications of choosing greener cars more prominently. However, more still needs to be done to help educate drivers earlier on in the decision making process."

According to Energy Saving Trust figures, new vehicles registered in the UK in 2007 produce annual emissions of 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide but the organisation predicts this could be reduced by 25 per cent over the next five years through encouraging the purchase of cars with lower emissions.

Sellwood added: "Our research shows that while consumers want to know about environmental features, at present the vast majority do not know the basics like how much CO2 their car emits.

"The Energy Saving Trust wants to help the public make better choices. We are not telling everybody to go out and buy a hybrid or electric car but we are urging motorists to buy the greenest car in its class."

See www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ driven for the full report.

CAPTION(S):

FORD... ECONetic at the Eden Project in Cornwall in the build up to the Sexy Green Car Show.