Car CO₂ emissions check

Type its registration above: the check reads the DVLA's record, which holds the official CO₂ figure for most cars first registered since 2001. It's also printed on the V5C logbook, under V.7.

Under 100 g/km is very low: small hybrids and efficient small cars. Most new petrol cars are between about 110 and 150 g/km, larger SUVs and performance cars 180 and up. Electric cars put out nothing from the exhaust; the electricity that charges them has its own, much smaller, footprint.

Cars first registered between March 2001 and March 2017 are taxed by CO₂ for life, in bands A (up to 100 g/km) to M (over 255 g/km); the check shows the band. Cars registered since April 2017 pay a first-year rate set by CO₂, then the same standard rate each year.

Its g/km figure times how far it goes. The check works it out from the car's own yearly mileage on its MOTs where it has them, or the UK average of about 7,000 miles. At 130 g/km, 7,000 miles is about 1.5 tonnes of CO₂.

Official figures come from a lab test. Real driving, with motorway speeds, cold starts, heating and air conditioning, usually uses more fuel, so a car often puts out 10 to 20% more than its official figure.

Yes. Offsetting pays for CO₂ to be kept out of or taken out of the air elsewhere, from renewable energy credits to UK woodland and direct air capture. The check shows what a year of your driving costs to offset, and every way to do it.