Green UK body slams scrappage

A BRITISH green vehicle lobby group has dismissed the UK’s proposed automotive recycling scheme as simply another motor industry bail-out that will not reduce carbon emissions.

The UK automotive industry is pushing for a so-called scrappage scheme similar to the one that has resulted in a spectacular spike in new-car sales in Germany, where buyers of Euro IV emissions-compliant cars less than 12 months old are given €2500 ($A4940) if they scrap an existing vehicle more than nine years old.

Proponents of scrappage incentives say encouraging people to buy safer and ‘cleaner’ new cars will reduce the road toll and lower overall vehicle emissions as well as stimulate new-car sales.

Opponents point to the substantial costs involved and the fact cheaper, imported vehicles tend to benefit more than locally manufactured vehicles, and question the environmental impacts of increased vehicle recycling.

But the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) in the UK, which is expected to introduce a £2000 ($A4127) incentive for drivers who swap old cars for newer models, says such schemes also “routinely fail to take into consideration the amount of energy required to build a vehicle in the first place”.

“Altering the way you drive and keeping a car longer can be a greener option than buying new,” says ETA director Andrew Davis.

“Even if the new model you buy is more economical, once you take into account the energy needed to scrap the old car and build an entirely new one the overall benefits are likely to be tiny.” Scrappage schemes have been widely employed in Europe for years and have been called for to reverse sliding car sales in Australia by the Motor Traders' Association of NSW and Suzuki Australia.

But federal industry minister Kim Carr and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) say the government’s 30 per cent business vehicle tax allowance, which ends on June 30, will be more effective in increasing new-vehicle sales. The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) last week urged similar incentives for private car buyers to stimulate new-vehicle sales.

Now the ETA has weighed into the UK scrappage debate, which it claims “masquerades” as a green initiative because, in theory, the German scheme would provide a taxpayer-funded payment to someone who scraps a 1999 Volkswagen Lupo TDI (81g/km) and buys a 2009 Porsche Cayenne Turbo (358g/km).

The ETA says the total energy consumption of car use is on average more than 50 per cent higher than the fuel energy consumption alone, pointing to the 2006 ‘life-cycle energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of world cars’ research by Kimmo Klemola for the Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland.

Instead of scrappage schemes, the ETA recommends drivers keep their car until it is no longer reliable, avoid harsh acceleration and braking to save fuel and reduce wear and tear, look as far as possible up the road to reduce stop/start driving and remove unnecessary items from their vehicle, including roof racks and top boxes.

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