AUSTRALIA’S four wheel drives are leading the way for cutting carbon emissions according to the latest statistics.

Statistics issued to The Age show the 907,851 new cars, utes, vans and four-wheel-drives sold last year had average emissions of 218.5 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre driven.

That was a fall of 1.8 per cent from the 222.4 grams per kilometre emitted by vehicles sold in 2008, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reports.

The statistics show the biggest improvement was among luxury four-wheel-drives, where average emissions fell by 5.8 per cent. Other significant improvements were recorded by medium-sized four-wheel-drives and ”upper large” passenger vehicles which are increasingly using cylinder deactivation technology in their eight-cylinder engines.

But the environmental performance of the popular people-mover category was not as good, with average carbon emissions rising 1 per cent to 246.2 grams.

Vehicles contribute about one-tenth of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions and the federal government is considering introducing mandatory carbon emission standards for new cars.

- with Fairfax Newspapers