Richard Yarrow’s opinion for Start Rescue, providing low cost car breakdown cover.

You will probably appreciate that cars are getting cleaner. On the average family runabout, there’s now far more focus on fuel economy and CO2 emission figures than 0-60mph times and how far beyond the 70mph legal limit it will do if you floor the throttle. But are they getting clean enough? And are the manufacturers improving as fast as they should be?

The answer to both questions is no. In a fascinating report from the Clean Green Cars website this week, its experts say that, based on current trends, the EU environmental targets for 2012 won’t be met until the end of 2013.

There is an industry average EU target for emissions from cars and it’s 130g/km of CO2. Across all 30+ mainstream car firms, that’s what they should be hitting. Only four are so far at that level, and – credit where it’s due – they are Fiat, Toyota, MINI and Citroen.

But actually that’s not the real picture. The EU target is an industry average. Each manufacturer has an individual target calculated via a complicated formula based on the weight of its vehicles. It’s a fact I hadn’t fully appreciated, and I suspect most people hadn’t. Clean Green Cars says no manufacturer has yet met its target. The ones which are closest are Toyota, BMW, MINI and Citroen, and the ones with the biggest moves to make are Chevrolet, Suzuki, Mazda and Mercedes. So if you’re making a decision to buy a car based on environmental considerations, it’s something to bear in mind.