SUVs Targeted

Everyone knows that most males seen driving around in large blacked out luxury4x4s have one thing on their minds.

Insecurity.

We were sent this photo from an anti-SUV guerrilla action in Brussels.
The text reads: A penis enlargement would be more climate-friendly than this show off car.

Do the Conservatives Really Care about Reducing Greenhouse Gases?

It's pretty well recognized today that human-induced climate change is the greatest long-term threat to humans and wildlife.

In fact, you would think everyone but the loonies would support measures that decrease our dependency on oil and help to reduce CO2 emissions. But that isn't the case. Our Conservative MEPs are working hard to help scupper new fuel-saving targets for the car industry.

We strongly believe that a tough EU regulation to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars is an essential part of meeting the carbon reduction targets of both the UK and the EU. Research for the UK Government shows that low carbon cars could make the single biggest contribution to cutting carbon emissions from transport. In particular, we see this regulation as playing a significant role within a range of measures to tackle emissions reductions from transport.

To date, the motor industry has not played a full part in tackling climate change, as the failure to meet the targets in the Voluntary Agreement shows. In fact, around the globe they have continually fought off regulations, instead insisting that any rules will hurt their industry economically.

Given the fact that cars form the single biggest category of oil use and that there is an impressive technological potential to make them more fuel efficient, one of the most effective measures the EU can take to reduce its rapidly rising oil import bill is to introduce mandatory fuel efficiency targets.

So just when we need or MEPs to be visionary, MEPs like Martin Callanan are pressing for agreements that favour German car makers like Porsche and Mercedes Benz who continue to build luxury cars for fat cats that are both heavy and polluting.

Swiss Young Greens to Ban 4x4s from Switzerland

Today we received welcome news from our friends in the Swiss Young Greens, who are gaining support for a federal popular initiative to ban large heavy and polluting luxury 4x4s from the Swiss market.

In Swiss law, Swiss citizens can freely form an association and propose a modification to the Swiss Federal Constitution. The association collects signatures of Swiss citizens who support the proposal. If the Initiative collects 100,000 valid signatures the proposal is voted by the whole population of Switzerland. If accepted by the People, the Government must enforce the legislative change.

According to Vincent Rossi, about 150,000 signatures have been collected so far. The vote could occur in 2010.

With this large success, the Young Greens have surprised the Swiss political scene and reactivate the debate on consumers' 'freedom to pollute'.

Technically, the Initiative requires all vehicles that are too dangerous or too polluting to be banned from sale in Switzerland. Existing vehicles can still be used, but with limited speed. "Too dangerous" means too heavy or with a too high a front end. "Too much polluting" means emitting too much CO2 or fine particles. Swiss and international studies demonstrate the relevance of these criteria.

The Young Greens have set thresholds for private cars in order to especially target SUVs and powerful roadsters: 250 gCO2/km and 2.5 mg PM10/km. Half of the SUVs sold in Switzerland would be hit, while only 6% of the family cars would. A 'light or ecological' car emits about 100 gCO2/km. A large SUV can reach 400 gCO2/km.

Alliance Wins Legal Challenge: Car Billboard Ads to Show Climate Impact

Car adverts on billboards and in magazines will now be emblazoned with the car’s climate impacts, after the Government yesterday agreed to change its advertising guidelines in response to the threat of legal proceedings by the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s.

The fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicle will now have to be prominently displayed, arming consumers with the information they need to choose a greener vehicle – and one that needs to be filled up with fuel less often.

The Department for Transport admitted that it had been wrongly interpreting an EU Directive on car advertising, which says that fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions information must be prominently provided in all promotional literature. The Government has until now exempted ‘primarily graphical’ adverts from the law with the effect that most billboard adverts did not include information about the car’s carbon dioxide emissions.

The announcement came in response to a legal letter to the Department for Transport from Friends of the Earth’s Rights & Justice Centre acting for the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s. We wrote to the DfT in March to point out that the UK wasn’t abiding with EU law and warned the Government that they would issue Judicial Review proceedings if the guidance was not changed.

From now on, it won’t be enough to woo consumers with a sleek and sexy image of a car in billboard ads – car advertisers will need to give real and readable facts about the car’s fuel economy and environmental impact. With rising fuel costs and a growing awareness about climate change, this information is crucially important for people to make greener and cheaper choices of vehicle.

In order to cut emissions from cars, we need both strong regulation on advertising and also strong regulation that forces car manufacturers to make more efficient cars. Today’s change in the advertising rules will help encourage car-makers to build more efficient vehicles, something they have so far been very slow to do.

Phil Michaels, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth said:
“Until now allowed the UK was getting away with flouting EU legislation on car advertising – but our legal action has closed the loophole.

“Consumers have a right to meaningful information about how much carbon dioxide a car emits and how much fuel it guzzles, so they can choose to buy a car that will be greener and cheaper to run. We will be watching carefully to make sure that the law is now properly enforced.”

See the cars and CO2 campaign website here: http://www.advertiseCO2.co.uk

Email Address for the Head CEO of Porsche

If Londoners would like to personally communicate with the Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO of Porsche in Germany, about Porsche and the way they are behaving like the ugly German in the UK, then please use this email address. Always be sure to be formal and polite.

dr.wendelin.wiedeking@porsche.de

Dinosaur Hunt Leads Team to a Petrified Porsche

Today, campaigners from the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s led a dinosaur hunt through Berkeley Square to the Porsche dealership in Mayfair, exposing Porsche as a dinosaur company petrified by a changing climate. Unless Porsche adapts their business model they will become extinct.

Adorned in pith helmets and hiking boots, equipped with binoculars and dinosaur field guides, campaigners lead members of the public to seek out those last remaining urban dinosaurs, relics like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Porsche 911 GT2 and other prehistoric Porsche species. Their banner read: Petrified Porsche – Stop Being a Dinosaur: Adapt or Become Extinct, while placards asked passers by to spot the difference between an Anchiceratops and a Porschus Carbonosaurus.

Porsche forced themselves into the limelight in the UK by legally challenging the latest congestion charge plans. According to their legal papers they will be representing all band G car owners. However, preserving sales are blatantly Porsche's main, perhaps only concern. 44 of the 45 cars they produce are in Band G, and when the £25 congestion charge is introduced in October, Porsche expect sales to plummet by 11%.

Londoners aren't the only one's to feel the brunt of Porsche's position as a carbon dinosaur.

Porsche are also fighting any attempts towards meaningful and binding emissions reductions by seriously undermining the EU CO2 regulations. According to Citigroup Global Markets, "Porsche faces huge financial penalties if the EU's demands are not watered down. Porsche would need to improve its fleet average fuel consumption from 20 mpg to close to 40 mpg by 2012, to avoid fines of more than $736 million by 2016". To do this they would have to cut an eye watering average of 138gm/km CO2 per car in order to meet the current target of 120 gm/kmCO2 by 2012.

To amplify how ill prepared Porsche is for change, Herbert Ampfere, Porsche's manager for energy and environment, said that the new EU rules on CO2 could lead to the company's demise.

The Porsche Cayenne Turbo is one of the most polluting 4x4s on the market, emitting an extraordinary 358g of CO2 per kilometer. Its peculiar design is a prehistoric spectacle of both enormous power and weight. A Porsche Cayenne Turbo can travel up to 171 miles per hour, but in London you're more likely to be crawling along at 5 miles per hour in traffic rather than burning the tarmac like Porsche's ads might suggest.

Recently the Telegraph wrote "that 2008 is likely to go down as the year when even the most die-hard petrol-head realised that there will be no U-turn in the drive to abolish gas-guzzlers and develop more fuel-efficient cars. In the UK, Porsche's legal battle with London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Chancellor's Budget measures to penalise thirsty cars may come to be seen as tipping points in officialdom's crackdown on the biggest emitters of C02. It's a situation being replicated around the world."

We expect to see a public backlash, and Porsche will suffer even more in its PR faux pas. Londoners feel that they, not Porsche, should decide whether or not to proceed with the CO2 charge on gas guzzling vehicles. To illustrate this point, some of the signatories on our petition against the Porsche legal challenge have included hefty comments such as the one below:

Mr. Robinson from NW11 writes: "I am disgusted by Porsche's attempts to prevent the imposition of a congestion charge on polluting cars in London. Porsche's stance looks both irresponsible and arrogant. And it is appalling PR. Even if the company choose not to support the ban by being so vocal in opposition they ally themselves with the past and not the future…Porsche are ensuring that they are seen to be irresponsible."

We feel that more actions are needed to challenge fossilized manufacturers, like Porsche, who are either oblivious like dodos or showing their teeth like velociraptors rather than clean up their vehicle fleets. Their engineering teams are perfectly able to make cars that don't create the excessive amounts of emissions of band G cars, yet that is where most have traditionally profited. With this new C Charge helping to change people's buying habits, the pressure is now on manufacturers like Porsche to produce and advertise cleaner cars for their customers.

With today's action we have focused the attention on a real dinosaur. We know Londoners will be watching to see if or how well Porsche can respond to the pressures for change.

Facts about Porsche

• Last year, Porsche also challenged the EU Commission as they drew up plans to set tough CO2 targets for the car industry. Porsche, who would be most affected by the new EU regulations, would need to cut an eye watering average of 138gm/km CO2 per car in order to meet the current target of 120 gm/kmCO2 by 2012.

• Porsche, as a member of ACEA have also lobbied for delays and weakening of years of European pollutant emissions standards for cars (Euro standards).

• In the USA, Porsche exerted their influence to weaken new CAFE standards in summer 2007. Porsche arranged for a Senator to offer an exemption ('application of an alternative average fuel economy standard') for small auto companies, and argued that as a low volume manufacturer, they couldn't meet 35 miles per gallon, requiring a weaker standard. The move was defeated.

• Porsche only produce gas guzzling and high-carbon emitting sports cars and SUV's. 44 out of 45 Porsche vehicles fall in Band G, the other in band F. The Cayenne Turbo is one of the most polluting 4x4s, with 378gCO2/km - that's nearly four times the level of the low emission VW Polo Blue Motion.

• The plain truth is - Porsche are at the top of the European league table as the most polluting
carmaker.

Mayor and TfL Prepared to Fight Porsche in Courts

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone and Transport for London (TfL) rejected a demand by luxury and sports car manufacturer Porsche to scrap plans for a higher £25 Congestion Charge for the very highest CO2 emitting cars, including many of the so-called Chelsea Tractors, the most powerful sports cars and some luxury executive cars, as part of the capital's plans to tackle climate change and cut congestion.

Ken Livingstone said: "Porsche have a clear vested interest in attempting to block this ground breaking scheme, against the interests of Londoners as a whole. They should focus their attentions on cutting CO2 emissions from the cars they produce, rather than pursuing this pointless legal action which we will vigorously contest. We have already seen several motor manufacturers rise to the challenge of cutting CO2 emissions from their cars and Porsche should join them.

Michèle Dix, Managing Director of Planning, TfL, said: "The Congestion Charge scheme has been a success at cutting congestion and traffic, with around 70,000 less vehicles a day entering the original central zone. Without it congestion in central London would be far worse.

"The principal aim of the scheme remains tackling congestion. The aim of the CO2 Charge element and discount of the scheme is to cut CO2 emissions by reducing the number of very high emitting cars driving in central London, influencing people's car purchasing choices and by stimulating the market for low emissions cars.

"At the moment, 17 per cent of cars driving in the charge zone are in Band G, while just 2 per cent are in Band's A and B. We expect to see the number of Band G cars cut significantly over time."

Specifically setting out to Porsche why their objections are unfounded, the Mayor and TfL made clear that:

· The CO2 Charge is about reducing CO2 emissions from cars driving in central London, whilst reducing congestion, as part of the Mayor's Transport Strategy and Climate Change Action Plan; and

· It is quite clear motorists have the choice not to drive a high CO2 emitting, car in central London, given the wide range of lower emitting cars available. Along with the higher £25 Charge for the cars emitting the most CO2, there will be a 100% discount for the least emitting.

Newcastle Plans To Tax Gas Guzzlers More 4 Parking

Newcastle has become the latest council to propose the introduction of increased parking charges for high carbon vehicles in the city centre. The development follows moves to differentiate parking charges between high and low carbon vehicles in London and Manchester.

The BBC reported on 11 December that Newcastle City planners are considering proposals for drivers to pay higher parking charges depending on their vehicle's tax band.

Another proposal under consideration is a charge on city centre businesses to use their own parking space.

The Liberal Democrat Council Leader John Shipley said: "In my view we are getting to the point where it is indefensible to offer free business parking in a city centre when we are trying to free up the roads here. If we are serious about climate change then measures such as emission-based charging need to be looked at."

The Screws Are on the Auto Industry to Shape Up

A federal judge in California today rebuked the auto industry's attempt to block California and 16 other states from setting tough new limits on global warming pollution from automobiles, calling these efforts "the very definition of folly."

Meanwhile, the head of ACEA, the car group in Europe wrote this in Financial Times: "Sir, As the chief executives of 13 auto companies producing and marketing our products around the world, and board members of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), we write to give support and encouragement to the UN-sponsored ministerial talks on climate change opening in Bali, Indonesia, this week. We think it vital that they work towards the kind of comprehensive agreement that our planet needs."

Even an idiot can spot the disconnect. On one hand the automakers claim that they really do care about climate change. On the other hand they want to change on their own terms, and in their own time, and don't want to be told what to do.

Meanwhile, other countries are exerting their own pressure. Ireland has decided to tax owners of gas guzzlers a massive 2000 euros annually. Similarly in Israel. Same in France. Why? Same reason - shift the market away from large 4x4s and luxury cars.

If the car industry won't change then they are asking for regulations and tax measures to artificially shift the market.

Hoodies to Fight 4x4s

As the winter cold takes over activists need warmer gear for ticketing those arrogant and obsessive luxury 4x4s. So we have designed a few hooded sweatshirts. Here, Olivia sports one of the best selling designs, available from our shop.

We're Not Encouraging Anti-4x4ism - We're Just in the Flow

You know, we get a lot of love mail, and we also get a lot of hate mail. 4x4 owners who have been ticketed write to tell us how misguided we are. They also accuse us of being fascists, against freedom of choice. They also respond as if we are corrupting people with our campaign, as if we are the leaders of some movement.

What they don't realise is we're merely helping to bring out the sentiments that a growing majority of people feel around the country. Think of us as a 'service provider'.

We received this letter from W. Sussex:
"I am always amazed at people who buy 4x4s and then NEVER take them off road! Why on earth you would need such a big vehicle just to take your kids to school is beyond me. It's as big a status symbol as a Ferrari these days, at the cost of the environment.

Please will you send me a free batch of "spoof parking tickets" so I can raise awareness to this in my area and hopefully make some people think harder about their car choice."

I think that's what we're doing. Motivating people to think more about the choices they are making, by enriching the information available about the vehicles out there, and pointing out the dangers that the large 4x4s present to our communities.