The Green Party has welcomed the "Energy in Transport 2009" report by Sustainable Energy Ireland today showing 78% of new cars bought in Ireland this year are energy efficient. This has led to a 12% reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars.
 
Green Party Transport spokesperson Ciaran Cuffe TD said:

“Today’s SEI report shows that green policies do work. As a direct result of changes made by Environment Minister John Gormley to car tax and VRT, consumers have modified their behaviour and turned to fuel efficient cars.”

The Energy in Transport 2009 report found that the sale of energy efficient cars rose from 43 per cent to 73 per cent following the introduction of changes to the VRT and tax system in 2008. In the first half of 2009, 78% of new cars purchased were fuel efficient.

Deputy Cuffe said: “This is a significant step towards changing the way we consume energy so that Ireland can reduce its dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions. VRT and motor tax are much lower for cleaner cars and consumers are responding to this.
 
“While carbon emissions in the freight industry have dropped due to the downturn in the economy, Ireland’s total vehicle fleet has grown with 2.5 million vehicles in the State in 2008. The Green Party is implementing policies that prepare Ireland to take advantage of the low carbon, green technology model that will drive the global economy. I hope that the move towards electric vehicles will see our carbon emissions reduce even further in the future.”

The report can be downloaded from the Sustainable Energy Ireland website: