Well, you’re not going to be surprised to hear this, but a report by The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has found that one-third of all ministerial vehicles were amongst the highest polluting cars on the road.
Presently, 30 of the 85 cars provided to Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are in the VED Band F, which is the second highest polluting band, for cars that emit up to 225g/km of CO2.
The report criticised Government ministers for not practicing what they preach after it was found that initiatives to cut the carbon emissions from departmental car fleet are failing.
The report found that CO2 emissions from Government cars was actually getting worse, rather than better as carbon emissions rose by 1.5%, compared to 2005/6.
“This shows no progress towards achieving the target of a 15% reduction by 2010/11 and is an area of serious concern,” said the commission. In response, the Government is going to establish a new ‘centre of expertise’ to help Whitehall departments achieve their targets of reducing carbon emissions.
The Government has also promised that from this summer, all new vehicles used by ministers and permanent secretaries – except a small number exempt for operational reasons – will have CO2 emissions below 130g/km.
“Government as a whole needs to take radical action to put its own house in order if it is to be in a position to lead by example,” said SDC spokesman Rebecca Willis.
It’s pretty bad when our masters who are telling us to straighten our act up yet are quite happy to ignore the advice themselves. Personally, I think cars are only a small part of the answer to cutting pollution; however Ministers seem to be telling us they are a significant part and on that basis alone, they should be dumping their gas guzzlers.
