A new report from the Transport Energy/Emission Research consultancy examines Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, finding it was weakened by late changes.
Australian vehicle emissions are even worse than official figures show and are likely to fall even further behind the rest of the world unless much more ambitious policies are adopted.
The new fuel efficiency standards regime will move Australia in the direction of comparable countries, but it has its critics. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen joins the podcast to discuss this policy and more
Known as parallel importing, importing goods directly from overseas suppliers lowers costs and increases supply, which is what Australia’s electric vehicle market needs to catch up with the world.
Pickup trucks for sale at a Michigan dealership.
John DeCicco
Opposition from vested interests – including oil refineries and the car dealership industry – has held Australia back on fuel efficiency. The onus is now on the Albanese government to intervene.
The Capitol Power Plant, which uses fossil fuels.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
The social cost helps regulators factor in harm from climate change when they consider new rules and purchases, like buying electric- vs. gas-powered trucks for the Postal Service.
President Joe Biden wanted to have a clear plan before the U.N. climate conference starting Oct. 31 in Scotland.
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President Joe Biden needed a Plan B, one that Congress could approve, to take to the UN climate conference. But his new strategy is unlikely to meet the country’s emissions reduction goals for 2030.
A used car superstore in Colma, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Electric cars get a lot of hype, but what really matters for the climate are excess emissions from the many millions of gasoline vehicles still sold each year.
The continued upward trend in our second-biggest source of emissions is a result of government inaction on a transport mix dominated by trucks and cars and a lack of fuel-efficiency standards.
Traffic congestion on the M5 motorway in Sydney. Government assumptions that Australian cars are becoming more fuel efficient are incorrect, research shows.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Surprise findings have revealed that Australia’s cars are getting less fuel efficient. This is bad news for the hip-pockets of motorists - and for the climate.
Australia and Russia could soon be the last remaining developed nations without fuel efficiency standards, with New Zealand proposing new rules and financial incentives to get more people driving cleaner cars.
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New Zealand has proposed new fuel standards, along with a consumer rebates for cleaner cars – paid for by higher costs for high-polluting cars – to cut its rising transport emissions.
Legislative action regarding vehicle emissions is overdue, and needs urgent attention by the federal government.
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This shocking figure comes from our back-of-the-envelope calculations looking at the effect of forcing more efficient engines on the Australian market.
Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy and Director, Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University