ACT is first state to move on fossil fuel car ban
The ACT Government has announced that it will, from 2035, deny registration to new fossil-fuel powered light vehicles. It is the first Australian jurisdiction to mandate a phase-out of internal combustion engines.
The Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction (Shane Rattenbury) said that announcing the fossil fuel phase-out date now would provide certainty to the community and to industry.
"The average car age in the ACT is 9.5 years, so we need to start this action now, and also help people as they are thinking about their future vehicle purchases" he said (Source: Canberra Times, 18 July 2022).
Mr Rattenbury also said that "the precise legal mechanism to ban new internal combustion engine vehicles would still need to be worked through, and it would likely involve consultation with the Federal Government".
He also said "I want to be very clear that the intent is not to take people's cars off the road at 2035 if they're still driving an internal combustion engine, but simply to make sure no new [ICE] vehicles come into the market".
This announcement comes ahead of the release of the ACT Zero Emission Vehicles Strategy, 2022-2030 later this week. That strategy will contain further information about the proposed actions of the ACT Government to accelerate the uptake of zero emissions vehicles.