Top 10 green cars in Europe 2015

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

Peugeot-Citroen tops league table of lowest carbon cars in Europe

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

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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