Australian vehicle emissions higher than forecast

In a year when traffic data showed marked reductions in volume across Australia’s major cities, CO2 emissions of new vehicles have not followed suit, according to preliminary data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

Over the 12 months to March 2022, CO2 emissions – collated via VFACTS new-vehicle sales data – for passenger cars and light SUVs averaged 146.5 grams per kilometre per vehicle, while heavy SUVs and light commercial vehicles averaged 212.5g/km.

While the figures are a marginal improvement over 2021 figures (150g/km and 218g/km respectively), they fall just short of the FCAI’s target of four per cent annual reductions (144g/km and 209g/km) on the way to figures of 100g/km and 193g/km by 2030.

Topline data analysis from TomTom’s global traffic index showed a reduction in traffic density in all of Australia’s major population areas across six months of the reporting period.

This is a result of COVID-19 lockdowns that throttled major cities in the second half of the year.

However, as government policies towards pandemic management ease, those traffic density figures are already starting to increase, which will bring more pressure to bear on CO2 emission reduction.

Higher than expected emissions from new vehicles can be attributed to increased sales of less-efficient vehicle types in 2021, including SUVs (up 16.9%), light commercials (up 23.2%) and heavy commercials (up 25.3%), while passenger car sales fell by 0.2 per cent.

The industry-led emissions standard was introduced in 2020 as a response to a lack of federal government action on implementing a hard CO2 target for the automotive sector.

While almost all established global automotive markets face ever stricter emissions reduction targets, Australia remains an outlier, with no incentive for OEMs to focus on providing Australian consumers with established emissions standards like Euro 6.

Australia’s continued focus on diesel-powered dual-cab 4x4 utes – the second-largest single sales segment behind medium SUVs – continues to play a part in total emissions data.

“The FCAI strongly supports a comprehensive approach to addressing motor vehicle emissions that includes fuel quality standards, the introduction of Euro 6 and the introduction of a challenging but realistic, achievable and market relevant CO2 standard,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber when the scheme launched in July 2020.

The score for 2021/2022 will have been improved slightly by the increase in sales of battery electric and petrol-electric hybrid vehicles – and the score for passenger and light SUV would have likely improved further had more than 12,000 Tesla vehicles been included in the FCAI’s official 2021 VFACTS data.

Weber reiterated the FCAI’s desire to see the federal government mandate the scheme to help reduce emissions across Australia’s transport sector.

“Clear and consistent policy direction on a national scale is critical for manufacturers to prioritize new low and zero emission powertrains for the Australian marketplace,” he said.

“We are reiterating our calls for government’s adoption of the FCAI voluntary emissions standard as part of its ambition to reduce emissions in Australia’s transport sector.”

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