Australia lags the rest of the clever world in reducing emissions from motor vehicles. The EU regulations drive manufacturers to deliver lower emissions outcomes averaged across the new vehicle product range.
Current EU targets for 2021 are <95 g/km; Australia <150 g/km.
Future EU targets for 2030 are <50 g/km; Australia <100 g/km.
Is it reasonable to expect Australia’s now fully imported range of vehicles are low emissions as for the EU? The reality is somewhat different.
In the passenger and small SUV category, only 10 brands led by Toyota at 100.2 g/km made the grade against the current Aussie target. None were able to better the EU target. Incidentally Toyota was the only high volume selling manufacturer to list in the best 10. All the other large volume brands including Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai etc were all outside meeting the targets.
There is a full table listing in the article of nearly every recognised brand. The big 4WD brands take most of the spots for the worst of the worst.
Transport contributes 19% (2020) of Australia’s CO2 GHG emissions. Passenger and light vehicles including utes contribute more than 2/3 of the total.
