KEY POINTS:
They talk the talk, but do their walk the walk?
With the public becoming increasingly aware of their personal impact on the environment, the Herald approached prominent people with an interest in environmental matters to see whether they practise what they preach.
We asked what sort of private vehicle or vehicles they own and operate in their personal lives. We then asked the Automobile Association to rate the vehicles as listed below in environmental terms.
AA general manager of technical service Stella Stocks analysed the vehicles without the owners mentioned, so as to avoid any hint of bias.
On the whole she describes the list of vehicles as a "real mixed bag", given the age difference and mix of petrol, diesel and hybrids.
Helen Clark's Mitsubishi and Keith Turner's Audi were likely to have higher fuel consumption, and as a result more environmental impact.
Older vehicles like Bunny McDiarmid's Nissan were not built to modern emission standards and did not have catalytic converters, which filter and recycle burnt fuel to decrease emissions.
Ms Stocks says the best of the bunch appear to be Mike Underhill's VW Golf and Rob Fyfe's 2001 Peugeot because of the tougher emission standards they are built to.
