First report on China vehicle emissions released

The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has released the China Annual Report on the Prevention and Control of Vehicle Pollution for 2010 marking the first time that the government has publicly revealed vehicle emissions in the country.

The findings of the report show that China, for the first time, ranked number one in the world for the manufacture and marketing of vehicles and that vehicle pollution had increased dramatically. Exhausted fumes from vehicles have become the major source of air pollution in large and medium size cities across China.

According to the report the number of vehicles manufactured in China in 2009 amounted to 13.791 million with 13.645 million sold, up by 48.3 percent and 46.2 percent respectively from 2008. The number of in-service vehicles was close to 170 million, up by 9.3 percent from 2008 and 25 times the number on the road in 1980. Among these, 62.094 million were automobiles and 94.531 million, motorcycles.

The MEP says 25.4 percent of the automobiles meet Grade III national vehicle emission standards, while 31.8 percent meet Grade II standard and 25.7 percent are at Grade I, leaving about 17 percent below any standard.

With the increase of the amount of in-service vehicles, vehicle emissions are creating increasingly heavy impact on the environment and huge pressure on urban and regional air quality.

Environmental monitoring data on environmental protection in China in 2009 showed that one third of 113 key cities failed to meet national air quality standards. The tainted air in many large and medium sized cities is the combined result of coal fired plants and vehicle emission pollution, according to the report.

At the same time, there are frequent occurrences of regional air pollution problems such as acid rain, haze and smog in some parts of China. Some areas were reported to experience over 200 haze days each year associated with NOx and PM emissions from vehicles.

The total vehicle emissions across China in 2009 were 51.433 million tons, among them, 40.188 million tons of CO, 4.822 million tons of HC, 5.833 million tons of NOx and 590,000 tons of PM. Automobiles contributed over 70 percent of CO and HC emissions and more than 90 percent of NOx & PM emissions.

The MEP said that the implementation of stringent vehicle emission standards and the phasing out of high polluting vehicles has achieved significant results of the last two decades and that as a result the increase of vehicle emissions since 2000 has slowed.

The MEP added that that after 30-years of development, there was a "relatively big development of environmental management of vehicles in China," claiming that regulations and standards for environmental protection of vehicles have been under continuous improvement.

A total of over 90 vehicle environmental protection standards have been released over the past 30 years with the upgrading from Grade I to Grade III national emission standard within seven years. According to the MEP in 2009, emission of individual new light duty vehicles was reduced by over 90 percent compared with that of 2000.

In view of the fact that vehicle emission have become one of the main sources of air pollution in China, the MEP said it will make more efforts in improving environmental monitoring and management of both new and in-service vehicles and reducing total vehicle emissions.

It will also work more closely with relevant departments and take comprehensive measures in such areas as industrial development, urban public transportation and application of clean fuels in order to reduce the impact of vehicle emissions on the environment.