Impacts of world class vehicle efficiency and emissions regulations in select G20 countries
Briefing
Status of policies for clean vehicles and fuels in select G20 countries
Realizing the immense opportunity to promote energy efficiency in their economies, G20 economies adopted an Energy Efficiency Action Plan that identified six focus areas for collaborative activity, including motor vehicles. More recently, G20 economies adopted the G20 Energy Efficiency Leading Programme, which established, for the first time, a multilateral definition of “world-class” clean vehicle and fuel standards and encouraged all G20 nations to develop relevant policy goals and milestones. These suggested world-class standards include Euro 6/VI or equivalent tailpipe emission standards for light- and heavy-duty vehicles, fuel quality standards with maximum sulfur limits of 10 to 15 ppm, a 50% reduction of fuel consumption for new light-duty vehicles (LDVs) by 2030 based on a 2005 baseline, and a 30% reduction of fuel consumption for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) by 2030 based on a 2010 baseline. In addition, countries were encouraged to support green freight programs that encourage the adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency improvements for in-use trucks.
This paper provides an update to the 2015 report, Policies to reduce fuel consumption, air pollution, and carbon emissions from vehicles in G20 nations, which summarized the status of clean vehicle and fuel standards in G20 economies. For this paper, we surveyed the participating economies of the G20 Transport Task Group to collect information on policies and programs that are under development by various government ministries and agencies. The findings reveal that the efforts made by multiple Transport Task Group countries to promote and support policies and programs—including stringent tailpipe emissions standards, fuel economy standards, low sulfur fuels, and green freight programs—are in good alignment with the long-term perspective and pathways of the Transport Task Group defined in the G20 Energy Efficiency Leading Programme. Opportunities for continued collaboration among G20 economies on policies for clean vehicles and fuels are described in the conclusions.
