Average classic car’s annual emissions equivalent to drinking three lattes a day

A new report from loop has quantified the carbon footprint of all classic cars registered in the UK, revealing that the average classic car’s annual emissions are comparable to a single roundtrip flight from London to New York, a typical three-day Christmas for one person, or drinking three lattes a day.

An average year’s motoring in a classic car has roughly the same carbon footprint as a roundtrip flight from London to New York, finds our new report, Quantifying Classic Car Emissions

The report also shows that total CO2 emissions for all classic cars in the UK represent just 0.22% of emissions from the entire UK transport sector.

Drawing on years of data from official sources including the DVLA and Department for Transport, the report offers insights into the make-up of the UK’s classic car sector, how fuel efficiency and car use have changed over time, and the role global events have played in shaping the motoring landscape.

Alex Kefford, loop’s Head of Editorial and author of the report, said: “Assigning a figure to the carbon footprint of the UK’s classic cars has long been a challenge. By taking a data-first approach that included developing our own software, delving into decades of dusty archives, and crunching our way through millions of datapoints, we’ve been able to shed some light on this particularly tricky topic.”

“Along the way we’ve discovered that the humble MGB is the most popular classic with Brits, that there are more classic Ford Escorts and Volkswagen Golfs declared as SORN as there are registered on our roads, and that average passenger car fuel economy has doubled since 1956.”

The full report is available to download here.

Quantifying classic car emissions