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
Stop Focusing on 10% if you think changing Australia’s road transport is going to make the slightest difference to global warming, then you are missing the maths. The problem is all in the Northern Hemisphere, until the massive polluters decide to clean their act, the warming will continue to increase. Deforestation and Heavy emission figures from Northern Hemisphere Countries should be your focus if you are serious about Global Warming. PS Manufacturing an electric vehicle produces 1/3 more greenhouse gases than a comparable piston engined vehicle. Do the Maths.
Fuel standards must be rigorous and at least as good as anywhere in the world. At best, we are still five years from a good pool of second hand EVs and then only if Governments immediately switch procurement to EV only.
Please legislate for strict standards re fuel emissions. As a medical practitioner, I see our precious health dollars being wasted on treating lung conditions caused by carbon emissions/pollution. Who wants that ugly noxious haze hanging over our major cities? Keep the air clean for us, for the kids, for the flora and fauna that humans have no right to harm. Please also legislate for incentives to assist in population change to electric vehicles, including battery charging infrastructure.
It is vital that we introduce clear and effective fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles, and help ordinary Australians get there, to curb our transport emissions.
Strong fuel efficiency standards need to come into effect as soon as possible, which will be mid-2024, so that we reduce transport emissions from light vehicles now. All new cars sold in Australia need to have zero emissions from 2035 or sooner, which is in line with limiting global heating to a 1.5-degree rise. Ensure that by 2035 all new cars sold in Australia have zero emissions, creating a second-hand market for low-emissions vehicles sooner. Legislate these strong 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.
Please legislate strong emission standards so we can benefit from the global progress in EV’s. At the moment they are too expensive for most of us even though we ache to stop driving an ICE car. We as a nation can and must lower our emissions in every way we can. As fast as we can. Legislation can help us so much by aligning us with a process which pushes car companies to do their best, a well established process which we can slip into. This is such low hanging fruit it needs enacting immediately.
A first step to cut vehicle pollution is to slow us all down; this will also reduce the road toll. 100km/hr max on country roads with dividing crash barriers, 80km/hr max on country roads without dividing crash barriers. 50km/hr on major roads in built up areas, 40km/hr on minor roads in built up areas. All fuel tax needs to spent on roads.
I support stronger fuel efficiency standards. Road traffic is one of the largest contributors to Australia’s carbon footprint. Standards will help reduce this impact and ensure we are in line with other developed nations. The standards must actively support the adoption of emission-free vehicles and ensure full coverage of the vehicle market by emission-free vehicles by 2035 to stay with the 1.5 degree warming limit.
As a constituent of the electorate of Makin in SA, I call upon the Albanese govt to introduce strong fuel efficiency standards to contribute in our struggle against climate change, and maintain hope that future generations can enjoy this wonderful blue rock as it is, for centuries to come.
Help start off the use of clean vehicles! Cleaner Australia, cleaner world.
Until we insist on electric vehicles we are NOT serious about pollution.
Kick out fossil fuels and bring in clean power
Also, road dust gets washed into pipes n water courses which then join creeks n rivers.
The Nearing River receives rainfall runoff inflows at many points which deliver dirty water to thecriver n deposit the road dust over sea grasses.
Many nutrient control devices are used in new projects, but the old drains dont have any.
Give the river a reboot by retro-fitting nutrient controls to existing drains so thst the sea grasses can begin to recover. It will be gradual but the result will be a return to a river that supports edemic fauna n flora. Just do it!
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Mob.0415249647
We need strong fuel efficiency standards to be introduced asap. Why are vehicle manufactuers allowed to ship polluting vehicles to us and NZ? We should be following the lead of N orway and /sweden, not USA
Please introduce fuel standard regulations in Australia.
Dear Government
Our household has had the privilege to be able to afford electric vehicles for over 10.5 years. We are now on our 4th model and adore driving high performance, reliable and most importantly low emission vehicles. We naively thought early adopters like ourselves would help lower prices and accelerate broader uptake across Australia. Sadly we have not observed anything like it. And we realize now that without regulations on emissions and financial incentives Australians seem just too attached to their heavy utes.
In 2021 my daughter conducted her year 12 project on measuring particulate matter (PM 2.5) in our local community. Her research astounded me. I had no idea how many heart and lung related deaths can be directly attributed to this particulate matter largely emitted by vehicles on our roads. Her readings on busy roads congested with cars and buses were significantly higher than “safe” limits!
It really is time to get rid of our archaic ICE cars and incentives all Australians to modernize for our own greater benefit.
Sincerely
Samantha Jersmann
EV’s are a waste of time, simply a political stunt that is sure to make things worse.
Methanol is a much easier, much cleaner, less detrimental across the board option that should be the real step forward.
Water/methanol mixtures are already used for racing applications, if production techniques were improved for world-wide supply it would become hugely affordable and reduce global noxious gas emissions by more than 50%.
Methanol can be produced as part of the waste management cycle. Meaning organic waste can create fuel.
It’s a no brainier. Too bad there are too many powerful hands in the EV cookie jar and they aren’t willing to let go of their investments. So we are f*cked still probably.
Cheers. Remember. EVs aren’t a good option.
Please, make the transition to EV’s, NOW!!!! Everyone has said it all, just make it happen. And not just cars: buses, trucks, utes, every vehicle which currently uses petrol, need to change!
Increase the registration and introduce on road fees for the vehicles that emit high emissions. this should include commercial, off road and public transport. Offer more incentives to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles eg reduce registration and purchase price. Establish low energy vehicle manufacturing in Australia to save on transportation costs and emissions on imports.
So disappointed with the Australian government’s disregard to ending car emissions, as soon as possible. We are lagging far behind other industrialised countries. Shame.
Pollution is driving global heating but it alsois increasing ill-health, driving higher costs for our health system. Low emissions vehicles will benefit from a significant increase in standards, but this could also be improved by promotion of electric bikes and scooters, which are already far more economical.
Please make this a urgent requirement to reduce CO2 emissions
we urgently need fuel efficiency standards in Australia which will be very tough on pollution so all new cars have no pollution asap . This will reduce the damage being done and the increasing global temperatures and hopefully keep it below 1.5 degrees increase. Make decisions and be tough and rigorous in the legislation.
Apparently, billions of dollars of taxpayer funds are being funnelled to the richest people in Australia.
Subsidising the billionaires of the mining industry is both outrageous and obscene.
Instead of funding outdated climate polluting technology, this money could be better spent developing modern heavy transport solutions that are sustainable. But why would the mining industry voluntarily give up such a vast amount of government funding? It wouldn’t make financial sense.
The Australian economy relies heavily on the mining industry to balance the books, yet the billions spent actually stifle innovation and modernisation, literally killing the golden goose, albeit slowly. Why would the mining industry develop new transport technology when they would risk losing the diesel subsidy?
At least some action can be taken to modernise one of our critical industries by introducing efficiency and emission standards. By applying an emission standard across all sectors, the measure would be seen as fair and equitable, and would provide some financial incentive to at least develop more efficient or hybrid technology.
It would also be viewed favourably by our Pacific neighbours as positive action on climate change, an area that needs significant improvement to counter the rise of influences such as China.
Thankyou for reading.
Just make it happen!!!!!!!
For the love of clean air, blue skies, and the health of us all, please write some tough emissions standards. We do not exist to provide a market for Toyota and other selfish manufacturers to dump vehicles no one else will take. By continuing to be that kind of market, Australian taxpayers are, in effect, financing the manufacturing delay in Toyota and others re-engineering their cars and going electric. How is that in our national interest? Setting emission standards is long o er due. And we all know that time is of the essence. So, I respectfully ask you get cracking!
Yours sincerely,
Lisa Kane
SA
Australia needs to get trucks and tradie’s utes changed toEV so that our emissions can be reduced.
Air pollution in our cities is extremely damaging to people’s health and the environment. Electric cars are going to become the norm soon globally, and we’ll be stuck with the dregs of the remaining ICE vehicles if we don’t act soon to implement strong fuel efficiency standards. This will be extremely bad for our economy and living standards, as well as the environmental and people’s health.
Why doesn’t Australia have the fuel efficiency standards that other countries, apart from Russia have? Our precious planet and innocent people are increasingly suffering. How obvious does it have to be?. Please implement tough standards on emissions asap so that no new cars will add to the decline and suffering. Thankyou.
Please set an end date deadline for the sale of new fossil-fuel driven vehicles in Australia.
Please set stringent and globally appropriate emissions standards to help us recognise the targets we need to aim for.
Please make some investment effort with individual households (like the California rates for renewables idea) to assist and incentivise the switch to electric vehicles.
Please support the Australian electric vehicle industries so that we can produce our own fit-for-Australian-conditions EVs and not be depending on importing vehicles designed for Europe, SE Asia or the US.
If the Government drags this decision-making out much longer Australia will just become a dumping-ground for the fossil-fuel vehicles that are no longer appropriate in the rest of the world, just as we became a dumping ground for all the DDT that was banned everywhere else in the 1970’s.
Creating incentives at all levels to help industry and individuals make the switch is important. Remember your family’s first electric fridge? First TV? We are capable of great change but it needs to be presented as an opportunity, not a threat!