A new survey by vehicle history expert Cartell.ie has shown that average CO2 emissions from Irish new cars sales has fallen in 2020. The average figure, across all cars sold, now stands at 105g/km.
Lowest average CO2 yet recorded
Not only is that the lowest average CO2 level that Cartell has recorded, it's also a significant fall from the 2019 figure of 114g/km. Indeed, that 2019 figure represented the apogee of a climb from the previous low of 112g/km recorded in 2016 and 2017.
So how has the number come down? Well, first of all it's important to remember that the average figure is taken from the quoted average issued by each car manufacturer - actual, in-use CO2 emissions may well differ considerably, but as an indicative average it's a useful figure.
More EV and hybrid sales
The primary driver of the reduction has been the increase in sales of electric cars (which have risen by 21 per cent so far in 2020) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (up by 16 per cent). It also can't have hurt that Ireland's best-selling car throughout 2020 has been the CO2-frugal Toyota Corolla.
On top of that, there's a double-whammy effect going on. While EV and hybrid sales have gone up, the car market as a whole has fallen by some 26 per cent, so the percentage impact of those zero-emission and low-emissions cars sold has had a greater effect.
Hope for further falls in 2021
Jeff Aherne, Innovation Lead Cartell.ie, said: "We are looking exclusively at new cars sold in Ireland and not at imported vehicles. It is timely that the figures for CO2 g/km in the private transport sector are dropping. The fall between 2019 and 2020 is significant and the Government will be encouraged by these results. To put that fall in perspective we have to go back to 2010 to find a 12-month drop as large as what these results have yielded. However, there is a caveat to this: new car sales are well down this year for obvious reasons and so the purchase of EVs and PHEVs are having a larger positive impact than we might otherwise expect in a normal year. It isn't all bad news though: if EVs and PHEVs continue their upward trajectory we may see the reductions in CO2 consolidated in 2021."
Certainly, the average figure for this year represents a stunning decline in CO2 since Cartell started collating such numbers. Go back to 2003, the furthest back for which Cartell holds data, and the number was 165g/km...