ICCT support helps New Zealand develop ambitious new fuel economy standard
In February 2022 the Clean Vehicle Act came into force in New Zealand, which introduces a new Clean Car Standard from 2023. This will apply to both new and used light-duty vehicles and a Clean Car Discount Scheme. Transport is responsible for 47 percent of domestic CO2 in New Zealand, with two-thirds of these emissions coming from light-duty vehicles – cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans, utes and light trucks, all under 3.5 tonnes.
As New Zealand does not manufacture any cars, all its light-duty vehicles are imported. The majority of these are based on emissions tests conducted in countries that rely on one of six test procedures. GFEI partner ICCT gave technical support to the New Zealand government to help develop a formal protocol for normalizing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel efficiency across test cycles. It also submitted a memo to MOT to comment and support their rule making proposal.
The consulting report sets out how new vehicles mainly come from Japan, Thailand, and Europe, and the vast majority of used vehicles come from Japan. There is currently no age limitation for importing used LDVs in New Zealand. The report provides detailed analysis of conversion factors in order to provide a consistent and fair approach to measuring emissions from different types of vehicle.
ICCT also produced a memo which compares New Zealand’s CO2 targets against those of other countries and assesses of the feasibility of the standards. The memo pointed out that the Clean Car Standards will make New Zealand one of the leaders in decarbonizing the light-duty vehicle fleet.
The New Zealand government has also adopted the Clean Car Discount Scheme, such that vehicles with a high CO2 emission rating would incur a fee, with the higher the CO2 rating the greater the fee. For vehicles that are below a set standard, including battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, the buyers would receive a rebate. In this way importers would be encouraged to bring cleaner cars into New Zealand.
