Companies specialising in pollution-lowering products embrace China's anti-smog drive
Smog in the city Image: Peter Mackey |
Suppliers of vehicle emissions control technology are clamouring to capitalise on China's "war on pollution".
Global brands like EcoMotors, backed by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and French supplier Faurecia SA are hoping stricter rules will compel automakers to seek out more sophisticated green technologies.
Leading component suppliers such as Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Denso Corp and Tenneco Inc all produce a wide array of products geared toward lowering emissions, such as fuel-saving technologies, exhaust treatment systems, turbochargers, direct injection and powertrain controls.
In a recent interview, EcoMotors President Amit Soman claimed Chinese automakers were serious about cutting emissions and employing the latest technologies, rather than just "make small changes in conventional engines."
China has already brought forward a series of rigorous diesel regulations and has also vowed to take almost 6m old and polluting cars off the roads.
While the nation's most polluted cities continue to introduce new legislative measures on both vehicles and industry alike, many in the auto industry fear the new rules will simply be ignored.
Beijing has led the charge on smog, but is also one of the world's most polluted cities. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, 51.8% of the days in 2013 were ranked "unhealthy or worse" based on PM2.5 levels.
The data show the avergage PM2.5 count in Beijing to be 90.1, compared to 16.7 in London and 14.2 in Tokyo. Shockingly, other Chinese cities fared worse. Shijiazhuang, a city of over 10m people, had an average PM2.5 count of 148.5 last year. Of the 7m global deaths attributed to air pollution, 40% were in China according to the WHO.