New system helps you choose best car for environment

MOTORISTS can choose the most environmentally friendly cars on the market, owing to a major new consumer survey on the pollution levels of the most popular models.

A new ranking system has been launched by the British government in conjunction with What Car? magazine as part of a campaign to help tackle climate change. The survey showed many popular models on Irish roads — such as the petrol version of the number one seller, the Ford Focus — have CO2 emission rates in excess of the EU’s target level of 140g/km.

The survey comes as the new Programme for Government includes a commitment to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 3% a year on average through a range of measures. This includes the introduction of a carbon tax on vehicles. It is expected such a system will replace existing Vehicle Registration Tax and will be based on the CO2 emission rates of cars.