The National Transport Commission (NTC) has released a comprehensive report on carbon dioxide emissions intensity from the 17 million cars on Australian roads, titled ‘Light Vehicle Emissions Intensity in Australia: Trends Over Time’ – with findings putting the nation behind Europe, the US and Canada.
This report analyses data from nearly 17 million cars registered since 2003 and still in use today, providing a more complete picture of emission trends than ever before.
“One of our key findings is that for light vehicles that entered the fleet since 2003 and are still registered, the average emissions intensity is 193.7g/km – compared to an average of 165.2g/km for new cars sold in 2023,” said NTC CEO and Commissioner Michael Hopkins.
“Nearly all the vehicles (93 percent) with an emissions intensity of less than and up to 120 g/km entered the fleet in the years since 2014.
“From 2017 to 2021, Australia’s emissions intensity dropped by less than a per cent each year. Looking back, we actually performed better between 2002 and 2016 when emissions intensity fell by 28 percent over the period.
”But there is good news: the emissions intensity for new vehicles sold in 2023 was down by five percent compared to 2022, marking the largest percentage drop since our reporting began.”
The average age of Australian vehicles raises emissions concerns, with around three quarters coming in at 10 or more years old with an emissions intensity of more than 250g/km.
“Our report confirms Australia’s enduring love for our Commodores and Falcons. Many years now after local manufacturing ended, these models remain among the top 10 on our roads,” Mr Hopkins said.
“While they are amongst the 75 per cent of vehicles that have been on our roads for over a decade with an emissions intensity over 250g/km, they were also built here at a time when there were many more small, lower emitting vehicles on our roads. Vehicles in the small class have dropped from 24 percent of all sales in 2013 to just seven percent in 2023.”
The report confirms that vehicles are indeed getting bigger in Australia, with light vehicles first registered in 2003 carrying an average footprint of 8.29 m2, compared to 8.78 m2 in 2023. Australian’s have also developed a preference for SUVs and there are now 6.48 million on our roads, making up 59 percent of all cars sold in 2023.
While Australia is making progress on cutting vehicle emissions intensity, we’re still behind many developed countries. Our emissions intensity from new passenger vehicles is slightly above those in the United States and Canada, and significantly higher than the average of European countries.
“Our report also shows that more people are choosing electric vehicles from a greater range, with 127 models available in 2023, up from just six in 2015,” Mr Hopkins said.
The average driving range of our battery electric vehicles (BEV) keeps getting better too and is now 470 km – 100 km higher than in 2021.
“More choice and better range have contributed to a 151 per cent increase in the number of BEVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) sold in 2023 compared to 2022,” Mr Hopkins said.
“But you don’t need to buy a BEV right now to make a difference to emissions. Nearly 100,000 hybrid vehicles were sold in 2023 so there are now more than 435,000 on our roads today. It’s made a material difference to emissions reductions this year.
“Price matters too but it’s not the most expensive cars that are always the best performers when it comes to emissions. Small cars costing less than $30,000 that were sold in recent years had an emissions intensity of less than 165g/km.”
With new insights into how the cars on Australian roads are contributing to carbon emissions intensity and people’s preferences, governments now have a bigger picture that can help in developing new initiatives to support the electrification of transport.
The full report can be found here.
