Vehicle history and data expert Cartell.ie report today (2^nd December) on an encouraging and timely fall in CO₂ emissions. In 2020, Cartell looked at the state of CO₂ emissions in the private transport sector for the first 10 months of the year and compared the results to the first ten months of the year for each year since 2003. In September the Climate Advisory Council stressed the urgent need for the Government to implement measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions including in the private transport sector.

Fortunately Cartell reports today the situation has improved in respect of our emission of CO₂. In an encouraging development for Government there has been a downturn in the average CO₂ emissions of new vehicles sold in Ireland: in 2020 average emissions decreased recording a reading of 105g CO₂ /km. This is the lowest level that Cartell has observed since recording these figures. More encouraging still is the fact that CO₂ /km had actually been going in the wrong direction until this year: the figure for 2019 of 114 CO₂ /km was higher than the figures for both 2018 (113 CO₂ /km) and 2017 (112 CO₂ /km)

Graph 1: Average CO₂   of new private vehicles bought in Ireland 2003-2020 for first ten months of the year in each case – Jan to October (Source: Cartell Carstat)

Table 1: Average CO₂  of new private vehicles bought in Ireland 2003-2020 for  first ten months of the year in each case – Jan to October (Source: Cartell Carstat)

Date	CO2
2003-01-01	165
2004-01-01	166
2005-01-01	165
2006-01-01	165
2007-01-01	163
2008-01-01	157
2009-01-01	144
2010-01-01	133
2011-01-01	128
2012-01-01	124
2013-01-01	120
2014-01-01	117
2015-01-01	114
2016-01-01	112
2017-01-01	112
2018-01-01	113
2019-01-01	114
2020-01-01	105

Why has there been a fall this year?

One of the reasons for the fall may be the increase in Electric Vehicles (+21%) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (+16%) relative to the overall numbers of new vehicles purchased. Unfortunately new car sales overall are down in 2020 (-26%) so the impact of the purchase of more EVs and PHEVs in 2020 has had a correspondingly higher impact on the overall level of CO_2.

Jeff Aherne, Innovation Lead Cartell.ie, says:

“We are looking exclusively at new cars sold in Ireland and not at imported vehicles. It is timely that the figures for CO₂ /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.”

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Cartell.ie is Ireland’s first and most comprehensive automotive data supplier providing Car History Checks to consumers and dealers. Launched in 2006, Cartell.ie is the automotive data expert providing tailored vehicle intelligence data to insurers, financiers, parts suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, and all sectors of the automotive industry. We supply data for multiple European countries such as, UK & Ireland, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Malta and more.