Sir Paul McCartney may be congratulating himself on his choice of vehicle.

He's always been a supporter of green issues and driving a hybrid car (albeit a rather large and luxurious one) would seem to be the right choice.

But his £84,000 Lexus is in fact responsible for stamping a huge carbon footprint on the environment.

This is because the car was flown 7,000 miles from the factory in Japan. That single journey created more than 14 tons of carbon dioxide - 20 times more than if the vehicle had been shipped by sea.

The first sighting of Paul McCartney's much talked about eco-car

That's a great deal more than Sir Paul's driving might have produced had he decided to opt for a conventional car.

The 65-year-old was photographed in the maroon Lexus LS600h for the first time as he was driven to his London recording studio yesterday.

A spokesman for environmental management consultancy Carbon Footprint said: 'Sir Paul would have to drive 36,100 miles in the car to create the same amount of carbon dioxide as that single flight. It's a ridiculous situation.'

The Lexus LS600h was sent to the former Beatle from Japan as a gift from the car manufacturer. It features a powerful five litre V8 petrol engine.

However, it produces relatively low carbon emissions of 219g per kilometre - comparable cars in terms of size and power have emissions of 249g per kilometre.

As a hybrid it also has an electric motor, powered by batteries, which can be used to power the car at low speeds, such as when it is in traffic, and produces no emissions.

Such is vegetarian Sir Paul's passion for issues surrounding animal rights and the environment that he took out the leather interior and had it replaced with cloth.

The singer demanded that no animal products were used in his new car and it has been fitted with a hand-stitched green woven fabric.

Thumbs up: Paul McCartney in North London today

Lexus has enjoyed a close relationship with Sir Paul. The company sponsored his 2005 tour of the U.S. and produced a one-off McCartney-themed hybrid SUV, which was sold to benefit an antilandmine charity.

He has, in the past, praised the firm for producing environmentally sensitive cars. His fashion designer daughter Stella also drives a Lexus.

Lexus said of the decision to send the vehicle by plane: 'To ensure the car's quality and security, as well as to meet marketing deadlines, it was airshipped on a regularly-scheduled commercial flight to the UK.'

A spokesman for Sir Paul declined to comment.