Eighty-seven per cent of drivers now believe that car emissions have a direct affect on global warming, with only 7 per cent of males and 2 per cent of women denying the link between cars and climate change, according to a new nationwide poll.

The You Gov survey revealed that 78 per cent of drivers surveyed say that they would be more inclined to drive lower emission vehicles if the government offered greater financial incentives to buy environmentally friendly cars. A staggering 83 per cent of 18-34 year olds surveyed agreed that they would drive greener cars if more financial rewards were in place.

The poll, commissioned by leading environmentally friendly online car retailer www.yourgreencar.com , found that measures such as reducing council tax, free parking and exemption from congestion charging were top of the list of possible incentives that the government could offer to make greener driving more appealing to the masses.

The survey comes at a time when the effects of greenhouse gas emissions are rarely out of the headlines. The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World redrew maps from just four years ago to account for the changes in the earth’s landscape, believed to be due to global warming.

With facts like this in mind, the green car retailer believes that the current system of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, or road tax) offers insufficient incentives for drivers to choose smaller, more environmentally- friendly cars, with a £40 rise in tax on the least fuel-efficient cars costing less than the equivalent of one tank of petrol*.

Jon Syder, managing director of www.yourgreencar.com said: “The environmentally friendly car market is growing rapidly as more and more drivers look for ways to swap their gas guzzlers for greener machines.

“Negligible rises in taxation for higher emission vehicles do not necessarily provide the best way to incentivize greener driving. The government has helped raise the profile of green issues but it now needs to offer more incentives to get willing drivers out of their gas guzzlers and into greener motors, in line with its commitment to help limit climate change.”

With this in mind, www.yourgreencar.com has today launched an online petition in order to put pressure on the Chancellor and the Government to offer more financial incentives to encourage drivers to switch to more environmentally friendly cars.

Jon Syder explains: “People have a right to show the government how they feel on subjects such as these. As a result of the survey we conducted, we feel confident that many people will wish to express their support and sign our petition. We then plan to present our findings to 10 Downing Street next year.”

In addition to providing competitive deals on low emission cars, www.yourgreencar.com also provides comprehensive information about all the different environmentally friendly cars available and enables people to search for vehicles by CO2 emissions and energy band.

To sign the petition, go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Greenercars/

Please visit www.yourgreencar.com or call Tel: 0845 249 1655 for more information.

For press enquires please contact Daniel Kennedy, Adele Mandy, Amy O’Toole or Paul Mulholland at SKV PR Tel: 0161 838 7770 or email: amy.otoole@skvpr.co.uk.

*Information taken from the Friends of the Earth website