WHICH ARE THE GREENEST COUNTRIES?

No European country was ever going to beat Norway for emissions in 2021, due to its firmly established PHEV and EV penetration, and indeed it was far away in front, with average CO2 emissions of 16.9g/km for all new car sales, according to Jato’s data.

The UK reduced its CO2 emissions by 15% last year, but its 106.2g/km average put it behind Germany, at 96.4g/km, and France, at 97.8g/km.

However, the UK finished ahead of Italy and especially Spain, whose main array of smaller but non-electrified cars meant a high average CO2 emissions figure of 120.3g/km – only an 8% reduction on the year before.

To put the UK’S figure into context, 106.2g/km is equivalent to 62mpg for petrol cars.

In 2020, according to UK figures, the average for new petrol cars sold was 53mpg and 56mpg for diesels.

That’s a significant improvement from 2000, when the average petrol figure was 36mpg.