A University of Oxford study has found that exported used vehicles generate far more emissions per mile than those kept in the UK.

Researchers used MOT results for all 65 million used vehicles on British roads between 2005 and 2021 to compare the pollution and emissions intensity of vehicles exported to those scrapped, destroyed or driven in Britain.

The data revealed considerably higher rates of carbon dioxide and pollutant emission in exported vehicles – of the seven million vehicles exported legally, these generated at least 13% more CO2 per kilometre than scrapped cars and 17% more than used vehicles kept on British roads. Significantly more nitrogen oxide (53%) was emitted per kilometre from exported compared with scrapped cars.

Exported vehicles also had poorer fuel efficiency by 3.3 miles per gallon (1.4 kilometres per litre) compared with vehicles sent to be scrapped.

Lead author Dr Saul Newman said: “Our study reveals that the UK, a leading global exporter of used vehicles with...