September and another UK number plate change is approaching, and this means that for a fair amount of people, thoughts are turning to changing the car. Whether you are intending to take the decision by September or later on in the year, it is crucial to add an additional criterion to your car selection process: what are the CO2 emissions in g/km2?

This is a measurement scale that we all need to learn by heart. We should look up the typical emissions for our current cars, although we should bear in mind that these figures will be affected by age, insufficient servicing, badly maintained tyres and non green driving habits. We should then all aim to buy a new car with at least 20% lower emissions.

Better still, we should go as far as we can and look at the following list of cars with emissions of 120 g/km2 or less, provided by the VCA. There are already 36 of them according to this list, and more are on their way - in particular the Volkswagen Blue motion which is out this summer with only 102 g/km2. What’s more, they are not all super minis, and they are not all as expensive as the trendy Toyota Prius, certainly the dearest of the bunch, and they will save you money on petrol and on your tax disc too!

Whatever you do, do try to cut your emissions every time you buy a new car. If we all do this, the CO2 reduction targets set by our governments will become far more realistic, our remaining fossil fuels will go that little bit further (until we can phase them out totally), and in this time of spiralling petrol prices, we will go that little bit further for that little bit less.