Lets Just Pretend We Are Green – If we talk about it a bit, everyone will believe it.
The Government are to keep van CO2 and fuel economy figures secret from us, despite data being available.
From January 2008, new legislation will force manufacturers of all vans less than 3.5 tonnes to have them emissions tested, empty on a rolling road, to comply with EU regulations. This would let us know the fuel consumption and CO2 figures. We could then compare one van to another as we do with cars.
Despite this new legislation the Government in the shape of the DFT, has decided that these figures can be kept secret and that manufacturers need not publish them. In other words, we are not going to be told.
Like Nero who fiddled whilst Rome burnt, the DFT say “It would make no sense for the Government to legislate to make the data public before the EU makes its proposal, in the event that the EU has differing views on how the data should be published.”
However whilst they sit around and wait for the niceties of the EU proposals, thousands of vans will be sold in the UK, all which will probably have a life on the road of around 10 years or so and all chucking out emissions to varying degrees and we will not be able to choose the vans that have the lowest impact.
We supply hundreds of vans and are always being asked by customers who want to do their bit and run the greenest vehicles they can which vans are the lowest polluting and most economic and in most cases, we simply can not tell them. These new rules would have meant we could. Had the legislation been fully implemented, we could have from January been helping companies that care, to choose the cleanest vehicles. Now we can’t.
Not releasing the information that we know will exist from January 1st 2008 makes nonsense of both the Governments commitments to reducing pollution and the law itself. Why demand the tests, and then hide the data. It’s a cop out, plain & simple.
What can we do about it? Well a number of van manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Citroen and Peugeot voluntarily publish data figures and well done to them.
It’s my advice we vote with our feet. If a van manufacturer will not tell you the data, well just don’t buy their product and tell them why. After all, for all you know, they might be horrendously polluting and do just 10 MPG. Don’t trust them, why should you trust them? They have the data (the law says they must produce it), so if they have it, why wont they tell us? What are they hiding?
If you stop buying from them unless they give you the data, the changes will take place almost overnight.
We need this law up and working ASAP and if the DFT don’t have the courage of their convictions, we must do something about it ourselves. If the planet matters to you, you can not ignore this principal.
As for the manufacturers themselves. Come on, do the honest thing, the honourable thing and release the data without being forced to.
