Today I’ve set myself my first Reduce-your-co2.com investigative challenge:

The majority of people today do their research on the internet as part of the purchase decision process. Ive therefore decided to put myself in the position of someone who is looking for a new car, but specifically one with low CO2 emissions. This person cares about the environment, and knows that they should be aiming for under 120 g/km2 if possible. They have also understood that a car which generates low CO2 emissions also costs less to run. They are more interested in low CO2 emissions than a particular brand, though they are open to persuasion.

And so I head off onto the web. Here’s what I find:

  1. www.ford.co.uk: we’ve heard something about a green car from Ford, so we think they’re worth a visit. The home page however has absolutely no mention of lowering CO2, the environment, or anything that could help us. There is a sub-link (under ‘company’) called ‘environment’, but other than that no immediately useful information, and no easy way to find out about the CO2 emissions of the various models offered.
  2. www.citroen.co.uk:  surely the French are more concerned about the environment? Yes, apparently they are, with a little button in the bottom right hand corner of the home page, entitled ‘Environmentally friendly facts’. This link leads to a mini-site all about Citroen and the environment, but the most important factor is a link to a page showing the 23 Citroen models that generate 120 g/km2 or less. Unfortunately this page has a broken image and doesn’t lead to further information, but it’s a start, and far better than Ford.
  3. We then head off to Citroen’s sister company, Toyota: as the creators of the world-famous Prius, which even we have heard of, surely they will be transmitting a strong message about CO2 emissions? Apparently not on the home page, where there is a big ad for the new Auris, and absolutely no mention of the environment or CO2 emissions. There is of course a link to the Prius and also to other models, and we are also pleased to see that the information page for each model includes a little energy scale, showing the CO2 emissions generated.
  4. Back to the French again, and on to www. renault.co.uk: the front page is useless for those seeking a green message - ‘Twingo has arrived’ is all you can see. On the other hand, a click on the ‘Renault Cars’ link, leads to a page with a big ‘eco-nomical / logical’ banner in the middle. Clicking on one of the cars featured leads to information on that car, but, completely stupidly, you have to dig really hard to find details of the Renault ‘Eco 2′ symbol, only given to Renaults that emit under 140 g/km2 and that are green in other ways as well. It’s a lot of work to find the cars under 120 g/km2, though - in fact we didn’t find one in the time we spent on the site.
  5. Why not go from French to Italian, and www.fiat.co.uk?: nothing at all on the home page, but a lot of digging brings up a page all about the way that Fiat is contributing to producing low emissions cars, but is there any information on the emissions generated by their current range? Not that we can find….
  6. From Italian, let’s go to British… well German nowadays, but the Mini remains a british idea - www.mini.co.uk: again no mention of the environment on the home page, which is a pity, as we have heard that the Mini D is worth a look. We click on the link to the Mini D and do discover that its emissions are only 118 g/km2, but where is the new model everyone is talking about that is somewhere around the 100 g/km2 mark? Nowhere to be found.
  7. Ok, so we’re with the Germans so lets go properly German and visit Mini’s owner, BMW - www.bmw.co.uk: nothing on the home page - what a surprise! But we’re sure there’s at least one BMW with a good level of CO2 emissions, so we start by looking at the 1 series diesel. We get information on % tax, but no CO2 emissions. Not easy to find what we are looking for here.
  8. Sticking with the Germans, on to www.vw.co.uk: on the home page there is a banner for the Polo BlueMotion, but if you don’t know what it is, how are you going to know that it’s a new diesel with only 100 g/km2 of emissions? What’s more they suggest you register for updates, when the car is already on sale! Nice try, but good bye!
  9. You can’t leave the German car world without visiting www.audi.co.uk, so off we go: another home page with no mention of CO2 emissions or the environment, however if you use the model selector, it will give you CO2 emissions for each model, although it makes for depressing reading. The best you can hope for is a basic A3 diesel at 136 g/km2.
  10. Let’s finish off with Vauxhall.co.uk. Surely they’ve got some good news: not on the home page, another complete blank for anything to do with CO2 emissions or the environment. We go into the individual car details, and, with a lot of effort, we do find CO2 emissions details, but it’s not easy at all.

So there you have it: 10 different car web sites, with only one that mentions the environment on their home page. Some, but not all, do give you emissions data, although in some cases you have to really want to find it. On a country basis, the French win, although if I had the budget, I’d be going for the Prius because it’s been so well publicised. But overall a totally feeble and discouraging effort.

The EU has set CO2 emissions targets for new cars. Everyone is talking about the CO2 emissions generated by cars. In the UK, the lower your emissions, the less tax you pay, and in London, for certain cars, the congestion charge is free. Surely it’s worth making it easy to find models with low emissions? In fact, surely car manufacturers should be forced to provide this information in an easy to find and easy to understand way?

What I really don’t understand is this: cars have a major part to play in generating CO2 emissions but, even more than with flying, we recognise that we can’t stop driving, that we need cars. So the manufacturers don’t need to be scared of promoting low CO2 emissions models - they won’t stop selling cars, and may even sell more. There are not many things that totally surprise me, but car web sites today are USELESS from a CO2 reduction point of view.