The majority of UK motorists want a financial incentive to go green, research has revealed.

A survey from Tescocompare.com found an overwhelming 65 per cent of drivers would consider switching to a low-emission car if they were priced more competitively.

But it seems making higher-emission cars more expensive in comparison would persuade fewer people – only 21 per cent of respondents said higher taxes on inefficient cars would persuade them to switch.

Paul Baxter of Tescocompare.com said: “The message that the British driver is sending to the government is empathetic – they are happy to embrace green driving but want to be rewarded for doing so. Penalising them for not being green is much less of an incentive.”

Reduced road tax would also persuade 62 per cent of motorists to consider an environmentally-friendly car, the study found.

However, on average, consumers can pay £50 more to insure a ‘green’ car, such as the Toyota Prius, than a ‘non-green’ car of similar size and features due to the higher costs of repairing these cars.

Tesco said if the government cut insurance premium tax on ‘green’ cars – currently at five per cent – insuring these cars would be cheaper and more motorists could be persuaded to go green.

Some two million motorists (six per cent) claim to already be driving a ‘green’ car, with those in the south-west and Wales three times as likely to own a green car as Londoners.