South Korea fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for new LDVs 2016-2020

On December 30, 2014, the Ministry of Environment (ME) announced the new average fuel economy (FE) and greenhouse gas (GHG) standards1 for light-duty vehicles (notification no. 2014-235). A nearly equivalent set of fuel economy standards will be implemented by Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) on behalf of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

The new standards apply to all new light-duty vehicles starting in 2016, and will be fully phased-in by 2020. The new standards have made the passenger car fuel efficiency target more stringent, and have expanded the scope of standards to include light-commercial vehicles for the first time in Korea. The 2020 standards require a 30.7 percent reduction in the fleet average GHG emission for passenger vehicles from 2015 standards and 31.1 percent from the 2013 fleet average emissions level. Light trucks are required to reduce their CO2 emissions by 15.2 percent from 2013 to 2020.