BMW
Based on its 2019 annual report, BMW’s average fleet emissions exceeded EU 2021 targets by 32 CO2g/km, resulting in potential fines of €7.7 billion unless this carbon footprint is significantly reduced. The manufacturer would also need to spend €20.7 billion to offset the emissions of models sold in 2019 - equivalent to 22.5% of its annual revenue last year.
Despite this, the best-selling models from brands BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce were among the least polluting on the market last year, resulting in a total carbon footprint of 9.8 billion CO2g/km.
Cost to Offset
BMW - Top Models
Breaking down the best-selling models from each brand owned by BMW reveals a total carbon footprint of 9.8 billion kg/CO2, which would cost €1.5 billion to offset. BMW also produced one of the most popular flagship models on the market last year - the BMW 8-Series - which would cost a further €54 million to offset.
BMW
Best-Selling Model
3 Series
Number Sold
124,537
Carbon Footprint
6,774,812,800KG
Cost to Offset
€1,016,221,920
MINI
Best-Selling Model
Hatch
Number Sold
55,630
Carbon Footprint
3,026,272,000KG
Cost to Offset
€453,940,800
Rolls Royce
Best-Selling Model
Cullinan
Number Sold
406
Carbon Footprint
22,086,400KG
Cost to Offset
€3,312,960
Average Model Cost
Flagship Model
BMW
8-Series
Number Sold
6,640
Carbon Footprint
361,216,000KG
Cost to Offset
€54,182,400
The Auto Emissions Report
The Auto Emissions Report created by NetBet Casino dissects industry studies and annual sales reports to reveal how far the ten best-selling auto manufacturers are from meeting 2021 EU carbon emission targets, and how much it would cost them to offset their carbon footprint over the past year.
The EU fleet-wide average emission target of 95 CO2g/km and fines of €95 per CO2g/km are as stipulated by EU legislation. All sales figures are from the latest year available and relate to the European market, or US if not available in the case of the Ram 1500. The following brands were excluded from the analysis due to insufficient sales data: Daihatsu and Abarth.
The average CO2 emissions for each brand is determined by Greenpeace. The cost to offset emissions relates to the mean cost of pulling CO2 from the atmosphere at €150 per tonne. The annual and lifetime running costs of flagship models are based on the emissions of each engine as stipulated by the manufacturers and are multiplied by 20,117 km per year for 12 years, based on the average lifespan of a new car.
Data is gathered from auto manufacturers' annual sales reports, manufacturer sites, EUROPA, transportenvironment.org, Greenpeace, CarSalesBase and Carbon Engineering’s study on pulling CO2 from the atmosphere.