For the first time, the voluntary CO2 Emissions Standard for the automotive industry has been released, setting the benchmark for future improvement.

The industry has two set targets based on annual new vehicle sales, the MA Category (Passenger Cars and Light SUVs) and MC+NA Category (Heavy SUVs and Light Commercial Vehicles).

The target outcome for 2020 is 154g CO2/km (grams of CO2 for every kilometre travelled) for MA and 197g CO2/km for MC+NA. The actual outcome was 150gCO2/km for MA and 218 g CO2/km for MC+NA.

The data released today provides an overall result for the passenger, SUV, and light commercial automotive sector. The performance of the individual brands will be released in early April.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber said the release of these figures shows a significant step for the automotive sector in tracking its emissions and the rate of reduction.

“The global automotive industry is focusing its R&D programs on the challenging task of improving CO2 outcomes for the benefit of the environment and society and new, low-emission vehicles are regularly brought to market to meet increasing consumer demand across the world,” said Mr Weber.

“The introduction of these new low-emission vehicles is also driven by challenging emissions targets introduced in many countries. These targets play a major role in shaping the purchasing behaviour of customers and attracting the most advanced vehicle products into the market.”

Leading up to 2030, the industry is targeting an annual reduction of 4 per cent for the MA category and 3 per cent for MC+NA.

Commenting on these specific results, Mr Weber said that the industry had an image of its current position and a pathway to achieving future targets.

“It is important to acknowledge that today’s release marks the start of this journey to 2030. It will be a long, challenging road and each of the companies supplying vehicles into the Australian market will move ahead in ways that meet their own specific product development and launch programs,” Mr Weber continued.

“The sector performed slightly ahead of expectations in the passenger and light SUV segment, however, was behind the voluntary target set for heavy SUVs and light commercial vehicles.”

According to the FCAI, there are three major considerations when exploring these emission results, that will ultimately present a challenge for the road ahead.

Firstly, “the CO2 results for 2020 reflect the type of vehicles Australians are choosing to drive, with sales of SUVs and light commercial vehicles regularly now more than 50 per cent of new vehicle sales every month. The fuel efficiency of these larger vehicles is improving with each new model release, however, the nature of the market and customer preferences need to be considered.”

Secondly, “the model development cycle for new vehicles can range from 5-10 years depending on the type of vehicle so the emissions reduction will continue to improve as the latest technologies arrive on our shores. Any expectation that emissions will decline rapidly over one or two years is unrealistic.”

And Finally, “Australia’s fuel is among the lowest quality in the world. We urge the Federal Government to accelerate the improvement of Fuel Quality Standards for Australia’s market fuels as this will enable the introduction of more of the fuel-efficient technologies already on the roads overseas,” Mr Weber concluded.

Source: FCAI | Australian Vehicle Industry Releases First CO2 Emissions Results

25 March 2021