The introduction of mandatory emissions standards for light vehicles would save Australian motorists thousands of dollars in fuel costs and cut a year’s worth of carbon pollution by 2030, a report by the Climate Change Authority has found.
Light vehicles, deemed to be less than 3.5 tonnes in weight, are one of Australia’s greatest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about one-tenth of the nation’s total.
The absence of compulsory standards is already costing Australian motorists. Even the most efficient new models sold in Australia burn 20 per cent more fuel on average than the equivalent make in Britain, according to the independent authority.
While fuel economy has improved under voluntary targets for light vehicles in place from 1978 to 2010, “it is not clear whether these improvements were greater than business-as-usual trends”, the report said.
Australia is one of just six countries in the OECD without mandatory standards, lagging nations such as the US, Japan and China, which have imposed such measures for more than a decade.
Current new light vehicles average 192 grams of carbon-dioxide per kilometre. The authority recommends a starting target in 2018 of 168 grams of CO2/km, dropping to 105 grams of CO2/km by 2025.
Such a goal would bring Australia in line with US targets but would still trail the European Union’s 2025 target of 73 grams of CO2/km.
Tha authority estimates the average cost of a new car would be about $1000 higher in the early years of the mandatory standards, reaching $1500 by 2025. Motorists, though, could expect to save about $7000 per vehicle by 2025 even after accounting for the higher up-front vehicle cost.
Carbon emissions would also be cut by 58 million tonnes between 2018 and 2030, roughly equal to the current annual emissions by all light vehicles, the report said.
The cost per tonne of emissions avoided would be in fact be a saving – at $580 – making light-vehicle efficiency among the cheapest emissions-cutting opportunities in Australia, the authority said.
The Climate Change Authority, an independent body established by the Gillard government to provide advice on Australia’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, has been earmarked for the junk yard by the Abbott government.
Billionaire politician Clive Palmer, though, threw the authority a lifeline, stating at a dramatic media conference on Wednesday with US climate campaigner and former US vice-president Al Gore that his Parlmer United Party senators would vote to keep the body.
Greens bill
The report comes as the Greens prepare to introduce a bill in the next session of the federal Parliament to impose tougher fuel efficiency restrictions on Australian cars.
The proposal would bring Australia into line with EU vehicle standards aimed at achieving 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre for passenger vehicles by 2023.
“Not only will tougher standards help motorists, but it will send a strong signal to our automotive trading partners like Japan who have the highest fuel-efficiency standards in the world that we will be an enduring market for high-quality and efficient automotive products,” Greens leader Christine Milne said.
“We will join the three-quarters of all cars sold in the global market that have a strong fuel standard.”
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, which in the past has been an advocate of voluntary standards, declined to comment on the specifics until it had seen the authority’s report.
A spokeswoman for the chamber, though, said the car industry “has continually delivered improvements” in CO2 emissions for new vehicles. The latest emissions figures by the National Transport Commission released last month showed new vehicles had shown a 2.4 per cent year-on-year reduction over the last decade.
“This is significantly greater than the reductions seen in most other sectors of the economy,” she said.
