The Better New Zealand Trust, with the support of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc, is taking the Government to court over its unlawful decision to weaken the Clean Car Standard. The Government’s own advice shows this will reduce the uptake of low-emission vehicles and increase New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, while ignoring the Emissions Reduction Plan targets, says Kathryn Trounson, Chair of the Better New Zealand Trust.

The Clean Car Standard requires newly imported vehicles to meet a target for average emissions per kilometre. Importers that fail to meet the target can pay a penalty to the Government or buy surplus credits from importers that import more low- and zero-emissions vehicles. The targets reduce each year, helping to drive the uptake of cleaner vehicles.

In July, after secret talks with selected stakeholders and no public consultation, the Government announced it would weaken the Clean Car Standard targets in future years.

The Government’s own modelling shows that this move will result in 39,000 fewer electric vehicles and 19,000 fewer plug-in hybrids being registered in New Zealand by 2035. The official advice found this will result in 1,215-1,860kt higher emissions by 2050, and higher overall costs to the economy through greater fuel and maintenance bills.

In setting targets under the Clean Car Standard, the Minister of Transport is required to be satisfied that the targets: “are set at an appropriate level to increase the supply of zero- and low-emission vehicles in the market” and “consistent with transport-specific policies and strategies set out in the emissions reduction plan”.

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The new targets mean that the supply of zero- and low-emission vehicles in the market will decrease compared to the previous targets and that the Emissions Reduction Plan target to have 30% of the fleet EVs by 2035 is going to be that much harder to achieve. As a result, the Better New Zealand Trust, which advocates for EVs, has launched a judicial review of the Minister’s decision to adopt the new targets.

“Along with the removal of the Clean Car Discount, the imposition of Road User Charges on EVs and hybrids, and the proposed increase in ACC levies on EVs and hybrids - the weakening of the Clean Car Standard is part of this Government’s concerted anti-EV, anti-climate agenda.

“In less than a year, this Government has taken New Zealand from being a leader in the transition to clean transport to being one of the worst performers in the developed world.

“The excuse that there is insufficient international supply of EVs and hybrids to meet the targets doesn’t hold water. Before this wave of anti-clean car policies began, EVs hit a peak of 20% of new car registrations and hybrids reached 56%. Other countries are already beating the emissions targets that we had set for 2027.

“Far from imposing high costs on vehicle buyers, as the Government claims, the previous Clean Car Standard targets would have provided a powerful financial incentive for importers to focus on bringing more zero- and low-emission vehicles to market.

"We are asking the court to quash the Minister's Clean Car Standard regulations and replace them with targets that comply with the law and have been developed following meaningful consultation,” says Kathryn Trounson.

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