Total CO2 emissions from road transport increased by almost 30% in the period 2000-16.
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While Australia has considered and tried to impose standards a number of times, sadly these attempts were unsuccessful.
Legislative action on vehicle CO2 emissions is long overdue and demands urgent attention by the Australian government.
Australian consumers are increasingly buying heavier vehicles with bigger emissions.
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How did Australia get here?
The most efficient versions of vehicle models offered in Australia areconsiderably less efficientthan similar vehicles in other markets.
The Australian vehicle fleet uses about32 billion litersof fuel per year.
Soassumingthat mandatory CO2 standards improve fuel efficiencyby 27%, fuel savings would be 216 million liters per year.
Policy has come close, but what are we waiting for?
The Australian government is not progressing with any measures to introduce a fuel efficiency target.
In fact, it recently labeled Labors proposed fuel efficiency standard as a car tax.
But Australia has come close to adopting mandatory vehicle CO2 emission standards in the past.
In late 2007, the Labor government committed to cutting emissions to achieve Australias obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
But a change in government in 2013 meant these standards did not see the light of day.
The amount of fuel that could have been saved is A$287 million per year.
Under all three targets, there would be significant net cost savings.
But since 2016, the federal government has taken no further action.
It begs the question: what exactly are we waiting for?
The technical state of play
Transport Energy/Emission Research conductedpreliminary modelingof Australian real-world CO2 emissions.
This gap is particularly concerning when we look at the lack of support for low-emissions vehicles like electric cars.
With continuing population growth, road travel will only increase further.
Even if the need to reduce emissions doesnt convince you, the cost benefits of emissions standards should.
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