We live in a sad state where Ireland has the third highest emissions in the EU, and government inaction has required a legal case from citizens to bring about meaningful action on tackling the climate crisis.

And yet during this time where urgent action is needed more than ever, leading Irish publications continue to give coverage to an organisation known as the Irish Car Carbon Reduction Alliance (ICCRA) – a misnomer that represents an organisation intent on increasing emissions, rather than reducing them.

Who are ICCRA?

The Irish Car Carbon Reduction Alliance is a large group of car dealers in Ireland which has ties to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.

They have little-to-no accountability, and do not maintain a website or any contact information that is publicly available. However, they actively lobby Irish politicians to act on their behalf and that of their members.

Why is ICCRA so harmful?

ICCRA has called for the Irish government to postpone its emission targets by a decade (from 2030 to 2040). These targets are in line with the UN’s climate research, which states that any delay in addressing emissions after 2030 will, at best, become mitigation – rather than actually helping to stop the climate crisis that will drastically affect all life on Earth.

As such ICCRA is denying fundamental climate science.

Furthermore, ICCRA is promoting the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles which are due to be banned in Ireland from 2030. Prolonging the sale of these vehicles by a decade will have catastrophic consequences as, unlike battery electric vehicles, ICEs will continue to pollute the air with harmful emissions that contribute to climate change and which impact public health.

This industry body has a vested interest in selling cars – and as of writing in August 2020, the profit margins for petrol or diesel cars are considerably higher than those of a battery electric vehicle.

The result is that the car dealers will be able to sell ICEs for longer before the ban, before spending a period of time promoting similarly harmful hybrid vehicles, before finally making the switch to selling battery electric vehicles – by which time it will be too late to reverse the climate crisis.

As such, ICCRA is calling for the government to postpone its emissions targets by a decade in order to increase its profit margins – electing to put corporate financial gain over environmental and public health.

How to separate myths from truths

ICCRA have recently launched a campaign known as “E-Way 2040” which extols their rhetoric of delaying critical emissions regulations by a decade.

Their website carries a number of blatant untruths and myths about electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and climate science. While there are too many to address at length here are some key highlights to help you separate fact from fiction:

• UNTRUTH: Electric cars accounted for 3% of new car sales in 2019 – TRUTH: While EV sales have been slow in Ireland, this has been typical around the world owing to a number of key factors. Yet in 2019 we saw a 40% year-on-year increase in electric vehicle registration worldwide, and we can expect this upward trend to continue in 2020. Therefore, while sales were low, this may also be due to ICCRA dealers deliberately not promoting EVs

• UNTRUTH: A new car in 2020 emits 32% less CO2 than a 10 year old car and three times less NOx – TRUTH: This is an incredible misdirection that overlooks the incredible level of emissions that ICE vehicles create. Meanwhile, an electric car does not produce a single emission once it is on the road, and offsets the emissions from its production within 30,000km of driving

• UNTRUTH: Diesels are suited to those who drive long distances, typically more than 25,000km per year – TRUTH: Diesel vehicles produce the most harmful emissions of any vehicles, even those that are in line with the latest specifications. ICCRA is actively advocating for the sale of vehicles which create harmful emissions. Regarding the 25,000km annual mileage, this equates to 68km per day – the average EV in Ireland offers a minimum range of 200km in a single charge and is therefore more than adequate

Addendum

Since originally writing this article, we have repeatedly tried to reach ICCRA for comment, and have been put in touch with the PR agency running their misinformation campaign: Weber Shandwick Dublin.

Perhaps ironically, Weber Shandwick’s website lists “Truth” as a key tenet of the agency stating on its website “no fake news here, without truth there’s no trust” - something that sadly isn’t present in a campaign that goes as far as saying that internal combustion engine vehicles will be emissions free by 2030 (as shown below).

Questions for Weber Shandwick

• Weber Shandwick lists “Truth” as a key tenet of the agency stating on its website “no fake news here, without truth there’s no trust”. In the context of this, can you elaborate on how the agency can justify supporting the E-Way 2040 campaign that seeks to go against UN climate recommendations and which makes several scientifically false and misleading statements?

• Does Weber Shandwick endorse the E-Way 2040 campaign’s goal of setting back Ireland’s national climate and emissions regulations in order to support businesses increasing their profit margins?

• What efforts has Weber Shandwick taken to reduce its carbon footprint, and what measures will it be implementing in the coming years?

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