In Australia tough new petrol standards will be introduced at the end of 2025, potentially increasing the cost of fuel while expanding consumer access to leading-edge, mostly European, ultra-efficient vehicles.
In changes the Labour party said would also slash 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector by 2050 – equivalent to taking 280,000 cars off the road – the government aims to spur greater imports of vehicles that car makers currently do not sell in Australia because the fuel is too dirty for their highly calibrated engines.
The new rules mean cars and light commercial vehicles sold from December 2025 will need to meet so-called “Euro 6d noxious emissions standards”. Years in the making, they are separate to a push by the government to introduce a “fuel efficiency standard” that would force car makers to sell more EVs by imposing penalties on the sales of higher-emitting vehicles such as utes, SUVs and four-wheel-drives.
Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment officials for Australia estimated last year that limiting environmentally harmful levels of “aromatic hydrocarbons” in high-octane petrol would cost about $216 million, around half of which would be from higher imported fuel prices.
The government said the cost to consumers would be around 1¢ per litre, but the benefit of cleaner, more efficient cars would save $6.1 billion in health and fuel costs by 2040.
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