In March 2004 Ireland made history by becoming the first country in the world to introduce a comprehensive ban on smoking, resulting in the act of smoking being prohibited in pubs, clubs, restaurants and in workplaces.

Importantly, this also changed how smoking was reported on in the media, with the conversation shifting to a scientific focus on the health implications.

This marked a distinct move away from the historic stranglehold of tobacco companies whose litigious nature and hefty advertising budgets had promoted slogans such as “One tobacco leaf isn’t enough. It takes a blend of ten Virginia tobaccos to make a cigarette as good as Gold Flake – made in the Republic of Ireland” – one of the many adverts that graced the pages of Irish publications.

Thanks to these restrictions and increased media coverage of the health risks of smoking, the number of premature deaths caused by tobacco dropped to 300,000 per year in the EU in 2018. This figure is now lower than the number of people killed by air pollution each year.

Today, we discuss why it is time for the media to report the environmental and healthcare implications of cars in their coverage – from car reviews, to industry reports.

Are cars that harmful?

Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles – those powered by petrol, diesel or hybrid – account for 25% of all emissions worldwide.

As such, a 2019 study by the International Council on Clean Transportation reported that vehicle tailpipe emissions directly account for 385,000 deaths in 2015 alone – equivalent to 11.4% of all air pollution-related deaths that year.

Cars & Climate Change in Ireland

If we are to tackle the climate crisis – the single biggest threat to every person and living creature on this planet – we need to start making it a central theme of all media coverage.

This even needs to extend to features such as car reviews, where the environmental impact of vehicles should be as much of a priority as handling, safety or fuel economy.

Sadly, the media in Ireland is lagging a long way behind its counterparts across Europe, and continues to actively promote the use of diesel and hybrid vehicles. One prominent Irish car review publication even went as far as stating that buying the latest VW diesel was “doing your Greta Thuberg best” – a sentiment so tone deaf that it is difficult to comprehend that this sentence was written in 2020.

Then there is the continued reporting of unfounded and untruthful statements by the Irish Car Carbon Reduction Alliance (ICCRA) – a misnomer that represents an organisation whose actions are apparently intent on increasing emissions, rather than reducing them.

They regularly receive national coverage in revered publications such as the Irish Times, Independent.ie, the Irish Examiner and the Limerick Post (no link provided as a conscious effort not to promote misinformation), where their unsubstantiated claims that “car emissions targets are unrealistic and doomed to fail” are printed verbatim from their press releases – often without any balance included in the article.

A recent study by the New Climate Institute found that Ireland is the worst performing country in Europe when it comes to taking action to combat climate change, while a 2020 report by Interreg Atlantic Area project highlighted the essential role the media plays in shaping individuals’ reactions to climate change.

Given that Ireland has the third highest emissions in the EU, this is a sorry state of affairs and we need to address reporting on the climate crisis as a priority if we are to suitably educate people about how it can be tackled before it is too late.

How can the media change?

As above, firstly we must start to acknowledge the inherent role that cars play in climate change, and make reference to this whenever possible.

This must also apply to publications that fetishise the car – such as Top Gear. A recent article on famed car designer Gordon Murray’s latest creation reported on its price, its lightness and its storage practicalities, the article made no connection between its antiquated, oil-thirsty 3.9 litre V12 engine and the huge emissions that it creates.

These are incredibly educated and knowledgeable journalists who willingly leave out these details, but who elect to highlight irrelevant factors such as 0-60 times, or the rpm that an engine can achieve.

This fetishisation of vehicles doesn’t just extend to rare, hyper-exotic luxury sports cars, but also to other unsustainable vehicles like SUVs and hybrids.

A recent article in Autocar on the 2021 VW Golf Estate mindlessly recites that they will offer the “world’s cleanest turbodiesel engines”, without referring to just how harmful these “clean” engines are – conveniently overlooking the existence of zero-emissions battery electric cars.

The same can be said for the misinformation promoted by Car Magazine, who report on an “self-charging SUV” – a marketing term that has no basis in fact, and which has been banned in several countries for misleading consumers about the fuel it consumes and its environmental impact.

Car journalists have a captivated audience who turn to them for advice and direction on making the best financial investment for their next car – and it is their moral responsibility to extend this position of power and privilege to educating their audience about the climate implications of the vehicles that they promote, particularly with the essential bans on ICEs coming into place in 2030.

None of us is immune to the growing climate crisis, and inaction since the 1960s means that our actions must become ever more drastic with each month that passes without meaningful action. If the car industry – and the media associated with it – is to survive, zero-emissions is the only way forward, and it is essential that we start reporting both the fundamental, scientific truth and putting this in context.

I’ll leave the final words of this article to Marc Maron, who puts it better than I ever could.

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