Transport is Australia's second biggest source of climate pollution, and most of it’s coming from the exhausts of our cars, utes and trucks.
But we can put our vehicle emissions in reverse! Strong fuel efficiency standards now would make cleaner vehicles more available and affordable to more people in Australia and hit the accelerator on taking CO2 off our roads.
Right now the Australian government is asking us in the community for our input on these standards. It's critical that we lend our voices now to make the standards strong enough to clean up our dangerous vehicle pollution.
Make a comment now for strong fuel efficiency standards to be included in an ACF community submission to the Australian government before the Friday 31 May deadline.
What to include in your comment
In your submission, you can mention that you want the standards to:
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Take effect as soon as possible: Have the standards come into effect as soon as possible, which will be mid-2024, so that we reduce transport emissions from light vehicles now.
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Be tough on pollution: Require all new cars sold in Australia to have zero emissions from 2035, which is in line with limiting global heating to a 1.5-degree rise.
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Insure affordability: Ensure that by 2035 all new cars sold in Australia have zero emissions, creating a second-hand market for low-emissions vehicles sooner.
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Be mandatory and rigorous: Legislate the standards, make them mandatory for all manufacturers, and don’t allow accounting tricks like super credits, offsets etc. that stop the genuine reduction of CO2 emissions.
Read more: 'What are fuel efficiency standards?'
Latest Supporters
Our house is next to a road and we know only too well the pollution that comes from car engines. The Asutarlian public are largely unaware and as such the government are doing little about it. this needs to change and we need to catch up with european laws on car pollution.
To drive into Australian cities like Melbourne means driving into a visible sepia cloud of smog, mostly transport and industry emissions. The environmental and health costs of fuel pollution are long established, Australia needs to act with its belated responsibility to enforce a cleaner emissions standard.
I strongly support the introduction of tighter fuel efficiency standards for Australian vehicles. We need to greatly accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia.
We must look at long term solutions for the most benefit to our communities, our planet and to our economy. Reduce our dependence on oil and clean up our air as a result.
Improving fuel standards will help to usher in a cleaner greener transport system. That’s something no-one could argue with.
As a recent returnee I cannot believe that there are no acceptable standards to be followed as regards carbon emissions on imported vehicles. My country is letting it’s people and the world down! Brian Guerin.
A lot of people cannot afford new or the latest second hand cars. Make it easier for them to replace their cars with more modern Hybrid cars to start the transition to EVs
Clean up our emission standards to help move the carbon pollution downwards. IT IS GETTING CLOSE TO THE DEADLINE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE TO BE SLOWED AND HALTED
For all asthma sufferers please drastically reduce pollutants
This week I was driving in the city behind a trade vehicle that was pumping out grey smoke, and a lot of it, almost continuously. I was able to see the number plate but that was all, I couldn’t see the make of the ute or its colour, the smoke was so bad. Fortunately my route took me off to a side road, but the vehicle continued into the tunnel. If there was a hold up in the tunnel, all the motorists would have copped a lot of very bad air pollution. We need better methods of finding and catching the drivers/owners who don’t bother to check their vehicles for bad emissions. Our air quality is poor enough without toxic gasses pumping from vehicles. New and second-hand vehicles must have to pass stringent testing a.s.a.p.
Please improve fuel efficiency, not only for cars, but importantly heavier transport vehicles which are commonly diesel.
As a life long resident of the western suburbs of Melbourne we deserve a much far more attention to this health affecting issue.
We have a very old vehicle fleet in Australia, which means that without tough new laws on vehicle emission standards, the transition to zero transport emissions will remain elusive. We need all new cars/trucks/trade vehicles to be zero emissions by 2035 at the latest! Getting zero emission vehicles into the second hand market is key to radically altering our carbon emissions overall. No loopholes, no carbon credits…we need vehicles that produce no emissions. And we need laws to make that happen.
I fully support laws that require the highest fuel efficiency standards for new cars as soon as possible but they must apply to all manufacturers and NOT allow offsets or loopholes, etc.. Fuel standards here are affecting not just climate pollution but the health and welfare of everyone
Let’s get serious about our emissions. Please bring in strongly fuel efficiency standards and get pollution off our roads and in doing so improve our global reputation on this issue.
Megan Muscio
Dear Australian Politicians,
How can we be world leaders and hold our heads high with such an appalling record of vehicle pollution! We need to change this situation Immediately and legislate rigorous standards so we are tough on pollution. New cleaner cars need to be affordable with no crazy loopholes for manufacturers. How else will we be able to reduce CO2 emmissions? The current situation is just not acceptable to any of us who are hoping for a better and more sustainable future. Get going NOW! FAST!
Elaine
Let’s all really push for everything to go electric