A better quality of gasoline and diesel that is designed to reduce vehicle emissions will be supplied to motorists from October as the city prepares for the World Expo.

The municipal environmental protection bureau said motorists would be charged more for the new fuel but they did not reveal what the price increase would be.

It follows an announcement by local government that all new cars, buses and vehicles used for cleaning and mail services must meet the "national IV standard" for vehicle emissions -- equivalent to the highest European emissions standard -- from November 1.

The fuel, which contains five times less sulfur than the current standard, would reduce emissions by 50 percent for light-duty vehicles and 30 percent for heavy-duty vehicles, the municipal environmental protection bureau said.

Wu Qizhou, the bureau's director, said the new fuel would reduce the amount of major pollutants in old vehicles by 10 to 15 percent.

Light-duty diesel powered vehicles and long-distance vans are currently exempt from the new rules because most cities and provinces outside Shanghai are yet to offer the new fuel.

The fuel initiative is designed to tackle Shanghai's air pollution problem as it prepares to host the World Expo next year.

Bureau statistics showed that about 66 percent of the nitrogen oxide, 90 percent of the volatile organic compounds and 26 percent of particulate matter in the city's downtown area come from vehicle exhaust.

The national IV standard will be adopted all across China by 2011. Shanghai is the second Chinese city behind Beijing to implement the emissions standard.

In addition, all new motorcycles must comply with the national III standard from July 1, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, Shanghai plans to extend its ban on heavy-polluting vehicles to further cut emissions.

Under the plan, vehicles that do not meet national I emission standards will no longer be allowed to travel within the Middle Ring Road. Those vehicles are now banned within the Inner Ring Road area between 7 am and 8 pm.

There are now about 200,000 vehicles that fail to meet the national I standard, according to Su Guodong, director of the Pollution Control Department of the bureau. They account for 14 percent of local vehicles but generate 50 percent of vehicular emissions.

Shanghai is also planning incentives to encourage motorists to scrape their old cars and buy new ones meeting the national IV standard. Details about the plan are yet to be finalized by the city government, officials said.

Official estimates show that if five percent, or 50,000 of those old cars were traded in, the city would be able to reduce pollutants by eight percent.

(China Daily May 28, 2009)