I’m Debra Broughton - a writer living in the North of England. I’m blogging for Greenpeace, bringing news about crucial legislation on car emissions that will be voted on in the European Parliament during the next month.

I’ve recently returned to the UK after 8 years in Holland where the bicycle beats the car hands down on most commutes for speed, efficiency and cost. But things are changing all around Europe. With the growing number of cars on the roads in our towns and cities, it’s not hard to see what impact car emissions are having on climate change.

Most people I know own a car – it’s a fact of life in a country with less than great public transport. But even if you decide not to own a car you’re not immune – we all suffer the effects of climate change. And if you do buy a car and try to do your bit by choosing a greener model, the savings you make in going for lower CO2 emissions could be wiped out by the Porsche driver whizzing by you in the outside lane.

It makes me wonder just what are car manufacturers doing to tackle the effect their industry has on climate change.

I’ve been pretty disgusted to learn that despite the green talk of many car makers, there’s a powerful lobby at work, trying to pressurise the European Union institutions into watering down emissions targets and push back deadlines to avoid taking action. Meanwhile all around us the effects of climate change are becoming more and more obvious.

Want to know more? Join me in my journey to find out exactly what’s going on behind the scenes at the EU, and find out how we can influence our own elected MEPs to make sure we get some Europe-wide action to tackle climate change.

The car lobby has had its way for far too long. Isn’t it time we made our voices heard?