Jan 10, 2008

Even If Your Car Isn't Green, Your Insurance Might Be

The United Kingdom seems doomed to fail to reach the carbon dioxide reduction levels set by the European Union in 1998, and some people aren't very happy about it. Now some sort of relief might come from a very unlikely source.  Ibuyeco car insurance says British consumers no longer need rely on the car industry to tackle the issue of CO2 emissions, which some point to as the culprit in global warming. Instead, the company has established a self-described "scheme" that allows drivers to make a practical contribution to help tackle global climate change through carbon offsetting.

While they haven't announced their failure to make the EU bogey, car manufacturers have admitted that they have no hope of producing vehicles that emit no more than 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven by the end of this year.  But ibuyeco is doing its part to slam carbon. Since its launch in June of 2007, ibuyeco has offset more than 35,000 tons of it, enough to power the obscure town of Swanscombe & Greenhithe in Kent for an entire year.

The online car insurance company offers competitively priced coverage that also offsets 100 percent of a vehicle's carbon emissions for the life of their policies. A small additional amount is added to customers' insurance costs to counter the purported environmental damage done by driving their vehicle. It is calculated based on the make and model they drive and the estimated mileage details provided by customers. This additional amount is then invested in projects that are said to suck CO2 from the atmosphere by The Carbon Neutral Company.

"With targets not being met by the car manufacturing industry to reduce carbon emissions," said Lucy Bailey, marketing manager, ibuyeco, "there was a huge demand for an insurance product that enabled the public to counteract the damaging effect of everyday use of cars. Ibuyeco is a practical step for people to make whilst also giving them a competitive insurance quote."