Australia: Light-Duty Vehicle CO2 Standards
Carbon dioxide emission standards for new light-duty vehicles were first finalized in May 2024. The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) Act 2024 sets annual gCO2/km emission targets from 2025 to 2029 for new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), utility vehicles (utes), and vans [6283].
Annual emissions targets, referred to as headline targets, apply starting January 1, 2025 and are summarized in Table 1. The targets are based on the NEDC test procedure. A review of the regulation scheduled for 2026 is expected to consider targets for 2030–2035.
Passenger vehicles (PV) or Type 1 vehicles, include cars and most off-road passenger vehicles with gross vehicle mass up to 3.5 t. Light commercial vehicles (LCV) or Type 2 vehicles, include utes, vans, and heavy offroad PVs with a ladder frame chassis or body-on-frame construction with GVM up to 4.5 t and a towing capacity of at least 3 t.
| Year | Headline gCO2/km targets for passenger vehicles | Headline gCO2/km targets for light commercial vehicles |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 141 | 210 |
| 2026 | 117 | 180 |
| 2027 | 92 | 150 |
| 2028 | 68 | 122 |
| 2029 | 58 | 110 |
Targets for individual vehicles are determined by adjusting the headline targets with an adjustment factor based on the vehicle’s mass in running order (MIRO), Equation (1).
Vehicle CO2 target = headline target + mass adjustment factor × (MIRO − reference MIRO)(1)
This linear mass adjustment curve is constrained by lower and upper mass breakpoints. For the years 2025 to 2029, the lower and upper breakpoints are set at 1,500 kg and 2,200 kg for PVs and 1,500 kg and 2,400 kg for LCVs. All vehicles with a mass above the upper or below the lower mass breakpoint have the same CO2 target as the vehicles with the respective breakpoint mass.
For 2025 and 2026, the mass adjustment factor and reference MIRO are derived from 2022 vehicle fleet data with the mass adjustment factor set at 0.0663 for PVs and 0.0324 for LCVs and the reference MIRO set at 1,723 kg for PVs and 2,155 kg for LCVs. From 2027 onward, the parameters could be updated using vehicle fleet data from two years previous.
The NVES allows the banking and trading of compliance credits and imposes penalties, starting July 1, 2025. Credits can be banked for up to 3 years after their year of issuance and can be used for meeting future targets, balancing debits from prior years, and trading with other manufacturers. Debits must be cleared with credits from within two years after the issuance year or they will be subject to a civil penalty rate of AU$100 per gCO2/km.
Further discussion of the legislation can be found elsewhere [6284].
In July 2024, New Zealand announced it would implement changes to its Clean Car Importer Standard’s emissions targets for 2025-2029 to align with Australia’s targets. Commercial Vehicles would align starting 2026 and Passenger Vehicles starting 2027 [6282].