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In last few years, Petrobras has been working to make feasible the vehicular usage of the natural gas (NG) produced in Brazilian north region. This gas is produced in the Urucu field located at the Amazon forest. Due to its low methane and high nitrogen contents that could promote, respectively, performance losses and higher NOx emissions, Urucu's gas does not meet ANP specification for vehicular natural gas. Previous studies performed at Petrobras Research Center (CENPES) indicated the possibility of vehicular application for Urucu's NG, attending the Brazilian emission legislation (PROCONVE). However, with new PROCONVE's phases, recent vehicles have more advanced technological levels of fuel injection and catalyst systems, which require that kits for natural gas follow this evolution, including interfacing with flexible fuel engines.

In the last years, world's general concern about climate changes and their effects on human life has strongly increased. Some countries, such as European Union members and the USA, are improving their legislations in order to limit vehicular CO2 emissions. To comply with these limits, new vehicle and fuel technologies are being developed in many places. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of some of these technologies for light-duty vehicles based on international published references and some experiences of Petrobras Research Center (CENPES). Also, this work addresses to some regulatory initiatives, such as new CO2 emission legislations and fuel economy labeling programs.

The growing humanity concern about harmful effects of global warming in consequence of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission has been translated on CO₂ emission reduction targets for the next years in many countries. These targets and regulations for exhaust gas pollutants with local effects have led to the introduction of new vehicular technologies as gasoline direct injection or hybrid vehicles, for instance. New fuel developments, including alternative ones, have already been an important contribution. In the United States, up to 2016, all manufacturers shall accomplish with the average production target of 34.1 mpg, becoming 49.6 mpg in 2025. In Europe, the 2015 target is 130 g/km of CO₂ average emission by each manufacturer production and reduced for 95 g/km in 2020. Japan, China, India and other countries have their own limits defined for the next years too.