Scrap: Not all happy
October 1st, 2009 by Richard Aucock
‘SHORT sighted’ is the Environmental Transport Association’s view of the scrap extension.
Yes, it admitted, cars bought under the initiative emit a quarter less CO2 than the scrapped ones.
But, it reckons, that CO2 reduction actually ends up costing the Government £370 per tonne of CO2. Whereas the actual environmental cost of CO2 is generally reckoned to be £80 per tonne.
Hence the venom.
‘This is little more than a panicked way of propping up the industry, said ETA director Andrew Davis.
‘Given time, those cashing in the grants would most likely have bought the new car anyway.
‘Car scrapping initiatives are often mistakenly labelled as green because they subsidise the purchase of cars that are usually, more fuel-efficient than those they replace.
‘But the schemes are by their nature wasteful and routinely fail to take into consideration the amount of energy required to build a vehicle in the first place.’
What’s your view on the ETA’s stance? Is it right to say all those cars would have been bought anyway? And do its figure stack up, given the Government’s incremental VAT boost?
Any thoughts appreciated!
OFFICIAL: Scrap scheme extended
Tags: eta, new car scrap, scrappage