British adults will drive 285,012 miles in their life –equal to 11 times around the world

To offset the carbon from travelling around the world 11 times, 11,400 trees would need to be planted. With life returning to “normal”, a third of workers plan to avoid public transport when they go back to their workplace, and one in four (25 percent) will commute by car more now than they did pre-pandemic.

The study also found 56 percent of car owners relied on their vehicles more during the pandemic, with 27 percent saying this was to avoid public transport, and a further 24 percent used them to check in on family and friends. 

Three in ten even purchased a new car amid the lockdowns.

Furthermore, almost half (49 percent) of all journeys are solo, with no one else in the car, but 34 percent would prefer to have a passenger with them going forward.

And one-sixth simply prefers travelling to work in their own vehicle than the likes of buses, tubes and trains. 

Greg Gormley, CEO and the co-founder of SKOOT, the only navigation app that plants trees for every drive, which commissioned the study, said: “The research demonstrates that driving is essential to our lives but it’s accelerating the carbon emission’s crisis.

“Auto-offsetting all journeys – even solo ones – using ones SKOOT’s green sat-nav, helps by planting a free tree every drive.

“We can all help reduce congestion and carbon by sharing lifts more. 

“Our new lift-sharing technology encourages colleagues and friends to help each other and the planet.

“We could massively reduce the number of cars on the road tomorrow if we all simply offered a lift to someone every other drive.”

The study also found that four in five (82 percent) don’t know how much carbon their vehicle emits.

A fifth admitted that lockdown has made them realise they want to drive, but don’t like the environmental impact it’s having, and 73 percent want to do their bit while still relying on their vehicle.

A further 39 percent would like to reduce their carbon emissions from driving but don’t know how to.

More than a third believe offsetting or reducing their carbon footprint is the most important change in terms of helping the environment.

Mark Stringer, CMO and the co-founder of SKOOT said: “It’s great that people are becoming educated and more aware of their environmental impact, people think automatically about recycling and water usage, and we want them to do the same about carbon emissions from driving.

“The new App feature does the hard work for drivers and alleviates the sense of guilt that motorists share offering a solution to help the environment in a fun, interactive and easy to use way.”