Shocked! More people means more cars and emissions

In December 2022, The Australia Institute (TAI) complained that Australia’s transport emissions had risen above pre-pandemic levels, which it blamed on the uptake of SUVs and utes.

“The government projects that by 2035, electric vehicles will account for 44% of new car sales compared to less than 1% in 2019. But despite this uptake, transport emissions are not set to fall for more than a dozen years”, TAI said.

“Why? Aussies are buying bigger vehicles, effectively erasing the benefit of reduced emissions that comes from growing electric car sales”.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.