Australia

Background

Emission standards for engines and vehicles are developed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). An advisory body is the National Transport Commission (NTC).

The Australian Design Rules (ADR) are national vehicle standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft and emissions. Since 1999, emission regulations are issued as ADR79/xx (where xx is the revision number) covering emissions from light-duty vehicles with a gross vehicle mass, GVM ≤ 3.5 tonnes and ADR80/xx covering emissions from heavy vehicles with GVM > 3.5 tonnes.

Australian emission standards are based on European regulations for light-duty and heavy-duty (heavy goods) vehicles, with acceptance of selected US and Japanese standards. The long term policy is to fully harmonize Australian regulations with UN ECE standards.

Regulated Engines and Vehicles

Emission-regulated categories of engines and vehicles include:

• Light-duty vehicles—Emission standards for criteria pollutants apply to new vehicles including passenger cars, light omnibuses, light and medium goods vehicles, as well as to forward control passenger vehicles and larger motor tricycles. They also cover off-road passenger vehicles.
• Light-duty vehicle CO₂ standards—The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) Act 2024 sets annual gCO₂/km emission targets for passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles.
• Heavy-duty engines and vehicles—Criteria pollutant emission standards for heavy goods vehicles (trucks) and buses.

Pollutant emissions from nonroad engines have not been regulated. In May 2023, the DCCEEW conducted a public consultation on how to control noxious emissions from diesel-powered equipment such as tractors, cranes, loaders, excavators, bulldozers, forklifts, pumps, and generators.

Vehicle Categories

For the purpose of vehicle regulations, including emission standards, vehicles are classified into categories, Table 1.