Australia to set fuel efficiency standards after decades of debate

Australia announced plans on Sunday to impose strict fuel economy requirements, mirroring long-standing laws in other modern nations, in an effort to get high-polluting petrol guzzlers off the road.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said that a “New Vehicle Efficiency Standard” will be implemented by 2025, putting an end to decades of policy delays and discussion.

“The United States has had a similar policy in place for fifty years,” Bowen said. “Australia still stands alongside Russia as one of the only advanced economies without the Standard.”

“This is costing families and businesses thousands of dollars at the petrol pump,” he said.

Australia presently does not have any obligatory fuel economy criteria for new automobiles.

In a 2022 research, the Australia Institute think group stated that the lack of an efficiency requirement was costing the country billions of dollars in fuel and that automobiles were 30% more polluting than vehicles in the United States.

Advocates have accused climate-sceptic administrations, as well as pressure by oil refiners and vehicle dealerships, for continually stifling reform efforts.

“By giving Australians better choice of cleaner, cheaper-to-run cars, a strong fuel efficiency standard will cut household costs and clean up our air,” said Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the Australian environmental lobby group the Climate Council.

They hope the new fuel standard will make petrol vehicles more efficient but also catalyse slow sales of electric vehicles.

According to International Energy Agency data, 33,000 electric vehicles were sold in Australia in 2022. That compares to 73,000 in the Netherlands, which has about eight million fewer people.

Australia also has a few thousand electric car charging points, a small fraction of the number in the United States or Europe.

Opponents have alleged the reforms will make it more difficult for Australians to buy large 4x4s or “Utes” that are needed on farms — threatening a way of life in the country’s rugged Outback.

Australia is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of gas and coal, two key fossil fuels that are blamed for global heating.

The incumbent centre-left government has vowed to cut carbon emissions by 43 percent before 2030, when compared to 2005 levels.