International Comparison of Policies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Passenger Vehicles

Fuel economy programs or greenhouse gas (GHG) targets, either mandatory or voluntary have proven to be among the most effective tools in controlling oil demand and GHG emissions from the transportation sector. Nine major regions around the world have implemented or proposed various fuel economy and GHG emission standards. Yet, these standards are not easily comparable, due to differences in policy approaches, test drive cycles, and units of measurement. This chapter discusses a methodology to compare these programs to better understand their relative stringency.