According to the leading carbon offsetting scheme for car drivers in the United Kingdom, the cost of offsetting the CO2 emissions of a typical 4x4 vehicle is less than £25 annually.

Drivers are infuriated by increasing parking bills, congestion charges and other high-emission penalties. This is especially true with the 4x4 drivers. However, to show concern to the alarming global warming issues, drivers surely could take an extra mile to offset the harmful CO2 emissions. According to the online targetneutral.com scheme, offsetting a 4x4’s CO2 emissions costs from just £16.71 for a Land Rover Discovery to £24.69 for a BMW X5.

Offsetting is a simple way for beleaguered 4x4 drivers to show their environment concerns. “Targetneutral supports the concept of taking steps to consume less energy as well as offsetting the emissions of your current mode of transport. But offsetting is a helpful and thoughtful step to take, whether you drive a Range Rover or a Mini,” said Sheila Williams from the mentioned scheme.

The targetneutral scheme recommends three practical steps that drivers could take to remedy personal CO2 emissions. First, the website suggests that drivers could reduce emissions as much as possible by changing behavior to use less fuel and be more fuel efficient. This step could also save a significant sum. The second step is to replace the fuel, oil, tires and car with more fuel efficient products and models, specifically high efficiency diesel vehicles, when such would be possible. Finally, drivers could neutralize the effects of the CO2 emissions that cannot be reduced or replaced by joining its scheme.

Based on the targetneutral’s calculator, the annual CO2 offsetting cost, on an average annual mileage of 10,000 miles of selected 4x4 cars in the United Kingdom are the following: the Range Rover 3.6 TD V8 £19.97; Land Rover Discovery 2.7 TD V6 £16.71; Volvo XC90 3.2 SE Sport £20.97; VW Touareg 3.0 V6 TDI £19.28; Mercedes ML 320 CDI £17.40; and the BMW X5 4.4i SE £24.69.

The Land Rover V8 engine is a compact internal combustion engine with aluminium cylinder heads and cylinder block. The said engine was originally designed by General Motors Corp. but was later redesigned and produced by Land Rover in the UK. Volvo XC90 parts used here boast the power of its V8 engine based on Duratec V6. The V8 was developed in cooperation with Yamaha Motor Corporation. The VW Toureg, on the other hand, uses different engines that include the 2.5 L diesel I5/R5, 3.0 L diesel V6, 3.2 L gasoline V6, .2 L gasoline V8, and 6.0 L gasoline W12. Mercedes and BMW are famed in developing efficient and easy to maintain engines.

Targetneutral is administered by a panel of leading environmentalists in the UK including Jonathon Porritt and Tim Smit. The company works through a simple online carbon calculator. The said online calculator could be used by drivers to input the make and model of their cars and the number of miles they drive a year to show the cost of offsetting their cars’ CO2 emissions. The proceeds of the website go to CO2 reduction projects including alternative and renewable energy.

Some automakers have underestimated cars’ CO2 emissions casting doubt over the road tax system of the UK. According to Auto Express' own fuel efficiency investigations automakers' quoted combined economy figures are unrealistic. "We found their claims to be 17-20 per cent above what motorists will achieve in everyday driving," said road test editor Oliver Marriage.

CO2 emissions and the Government's car taxation measure are directly proportionate to fuel efficiency. The United States environmental protection agency said, "Each one per cent rise in consumption results in a one per cent rise in emissions." Therefore, official CO2 fig­ures could be up to 20 percent too low.

Auto Express' findings mean top-selling cars could be contributing more to global warming than first thought. Ford's Focus 1.6, for instance, officially puts out 161g/km of CO2 however; it is more likely to emit 193g/km. That would move Focus from Band D to Band F, increasing road tax by £65 a year.

Further, the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) states on its website that "emissions tests cannot fully represent real-life driving conditions." This information should be taken vigilantly by car owners.