China's motor vehicle numbers are expected to triple in the next eight years posing a monumentally destructive threat. Photo / Supplied
Air quality in all of the 32 Chinese cities that track pollution falls short of World Health Organisation guidelines. Beijing is among the world's most polluted cities.
China's government will spend as much as 2 billion yuan ($413 million) a year to develop alternative-energy vehicles to reduce fuel consumption, the
finance ministry said today.
It will also promote using buses with hybrid engines in major cities, said Vice-Finance Minister Zhang Shaochun on the ministry's website. Agencies and companies that provide public services, such as car rental firms, will be encouraged to use alternative-energy vehicles in 25 trial cities, he said.
A projected tripling in vehicle numbers by 2020 will increase the country's demand for fossil fuel and add to its air pollution. China buys more than half its crude oil from overseas and is the world's second-largest importer of oil after the US.
Air quality in all of the 32 Chinese cities that track pollution falls short of World Health Organisation guidelines. Beijing is among the world's most polluted cities.
