Sometimes good news comes where you least expect it - and this time it's in an article on the Automotive news website. The headline is: Europe's carmakers can reach 130g/km CO2 target.

It's something Greenpeace has known for a while - remember they got together a list of over 100 cars in production now that meet the 2012 targets.

It's a refreshing change, in a week when Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne announced that ACEA plan to apply to a 40 billion euro loan from the EU to help subsidise the cost of the improvements needed to bring their fleets up to a level where they'll meet the targets.

You can't blame the car industry for trying to make a positive out of a negative - it's a clever move to turn the logic on its head so that instead of the carmakers paying penalties for failing to make the grade, the EU pays them in the form of a low interest loan.

But you may have spotted the flaw in the argument. If you need a clue just scroll up and read the headline again.

That's right. According to automotive news, there are a range of cars on the stands at the Paris Motor Show with emissions levels below 100g, and these are just the cars on the market now or in the next twelve months.

And if you need any more, a recent report shows that in the UK CO2 emissions from cars fell by 4.5% in the past 3 months. This is the largest decrease on record. Right now, the average car emits 156.6g/km of CO2. If the carmakers carry on like this they'll be on target to meet the EU emission targets of 130g/km by 2012.

So you see, we can get there after all. And if we do, we can start doing something to tackle climate change.

The only people we need to convince are the car makers themselves. It's up to the EU to do that, with some strong but achievable targets that will not only save us money on fuel costs, but will do the planet a big favour too.