New research has revealed some of the cars that produce the most CO2 in the UK.
The team at DriveElectric have looked at the average annual CO2 emissions of the 100 most popularly owned cars in the UK to reveal the most popular polluters. The research has also also discovered how many trees it would take to offset those emissions.

Not so green

The most popular cars in the UK that produce the most carbon emissions:

Rank

Car Make & Model

Average Annual CO2 Emissions (kg)

Estimated Trees to Offset CO2 Emissions

1

Land Rover Range Rover Sport 3.0 HSE SDV6 A

1,607

73

2

Bmw X5 xDrive30d M Sport Auto

1,590

72

3

Mazda MX-5

1,451

66

4

Bmw X3 XDrive20d M Sport Auto

1,434

65

5

Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec Climate

1,381

63

5

Ford Focus Hatchback 1.6 LX

1,381

63

7

Vauxhall Zafira 1.6i Exclusiv

1,364

62

8

Volkswagen Golf 2.0 GT TDI

1,355

62

9

Nissan Qashqai Acenta 2.0 dCi

1,347

61

10

Bmw 5-Series 520d SE Auto

1,338

61

10

Nissan Qashqai N-Connecta 1.3 Dig-T

1,338

61
We have the Range Rover Sport as the car with the highest emissions. Annually, this car produces around 1,607kg of CO2 emissions, which would mean you’d have to plant approximately 73 trees to offset your emissions.
The BMW X5 xDrive30d comes in with the second-highest emissions, narrowly behind the Range Rover. On average, this car produces around 1,590kg of CO2, which means it would also take around 72 trees to cancel out those emissions.
The car that produces the third-most emissions in the UK is the Mazda MX-5, with an average of 1,451kg of CO2 produced annually. You would have to plant at least 66 trees to offset those emissions with this car.

A better colour

As demonstrated below, EVs perform very well in producing low amounts of CO2 emissions. And with ICE vehicles being gradually phased out, we could see EVs increasing in popularity over the next few years. Searches for EVs on Google have increased by 333.33% over the last five years, further highlighting the increased interest in this type of vehicle.

Furthermore, we should highlight that EVs have a heavier body compared to ICE vehicles, which is due to the sheer size and weight of the batteries in EVs. This is significant as heavier vehicles tend to require much more power or fuel to operate. Yet, despite this, EVs still performed much better than ICE vehicles. The Toyota Yaris Icon, the best-performing ICE vehicle, produced 730kg of CO2 annually. This is three times as much as the best-performing EV and more than double the worst-performing EV.

 

 

Climate killers

The research also revealed the most popular car with the worst emissions of all time is the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. It produces around 3,319kg of CO2 annually. You’d need to plant an estimated 151 trees to offset your emissions yearly from driving this vehicle.

The car with the second-biggest environmental impact is the Ford F-150 Raptor. This produces 3,232kg of CO2 tailpipe emissions each year, on average. Again, with such a colossal number of emissions, you’ll need to plant a lot of trees to offset it, estimated at 147 trees per year.

And in third place, we have the Mercedes-Benz G63. This also produces more than 3,000kg in tailpipe CO2 emissions each year. It would take an estimated 143 trees to offset your emissions with this car each year.