CAR MANUFACTURERS have pushed back against allegations that they are underreporting the indirect lifetime emissions of their vehicles.

A report by European environmental NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) has accused nine of the world's largest car makers - including Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW - of downplaying the indirect lifetime emissions of their vehicles by, on average, 50 per cent.

The report said cars' carbon footprints can vary based on car type and geographical location, as well as how often they are used.

The report's author Luca Bonaccorsi said car makers were using selective data to reach lower figures when calculating their environmental impact.

"Carmakers are trying to pull the wool over investors' eyes by underreporting the lifetime emissions of their cars," Bonaccorsi said. "This makes a mockery of carmakers' green claims."

T&E said the underreporting of global indirect emissions will represent a significant challenge for EUbased asset managers, who will be forced to report their Scope 3 emissions from 2023. Scope 3 emissions include, for example, the sourcing of materials as well as the pollution created during a goods lifetime.

But car makers rejected the allegations.

A Volkswagen spokesperson said that it "didn't agree with the conclusions made," while BMW said the data used in the study were outdated.

A spokesperson for BMW said the report used an average mileage of its cars of 150,000km, but since 2021 the car company has been calculating its emissions based on an average mileage of 200,000km. "This crucial change was not reflected in the T&E report," the spokesperson said.

Toyota said: "We will need more time to study the data before making any detailed response."

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper