Australia needs fuel efficiency standards with teeth to end the electric vehicle roadblock
8th August 2022: Australia needs fuel efficiency standards with teeth to end the electric vehicle roadblock
Clean Transport advocates Solar Citizens have criticised revelations from a report leaked this morning that the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Australia’s peak body representing 39 auto brands, is covertly lobbying the government to implement some of the weakest fuel efficiency standards in the world.
“After the passing of the Climate Bill in parliament last week, the Albanese government now has an opportunity to implement Fuel Efficiency Standards with teeth and get us on par with the rest of the world and tackle our skyrocketing transport sector emissions,” said Ajaya Haikerwal, Clean Transport Campaigner at Solar Citizens.
“But because we’re so far behind, we have to ensure our standards are the best in the world to give us any chance of catching up.
“The leaked report from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries this morning shows that our car industry is trying to implement a dodgy standard that will see Australia fall short of its Paris commitments and leave Aussies with cars that will cost more over the long run, use more fuel, and pollute more carbon for longer.
“Any standard simply cannot include concessions for hybrid vehicles. The emissions savings that car makers calculate for hybrids and plug-in hybrid vehicles are much more dramatic than the cuts they actually deliver, so a ‘technology agnostic’ approach just isn’t going to cut it.
“You only have to look across the ditch to New Zealand to see a developed country with a small right-hand drive market, similarly isolated, for an example as to how strong Fuel Efficiency Standards have made a remarkable difference in a short space of time – EV sales have almost tripled since they were introduced last year.
“As today’s report from The Australia Institute also makes abundantly clear, we’re the world’s dumping ground for inefficient vehicles. Had fuel efficiency standards been adopted when the Turnbull government was in power, households, the economy and the climate would all have been better off.”
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Media Contact: Ajaya Haikerwal, 0400 723 324
