China 'needs to do more to improve air quality on roads'

China needs to improve road travel operations in order to increase its air quality, it has been suggested.

According to Financial Times blogger Josh Noble, China has a "growing appetite for coal".

He said that while more people in the country are buying cars - with 1.2 million new vehicles bought in August 2010 alone - this is having an impact on China's use of fossil fuels.

Mr Noble stated that as well as the roads not being ready for such a volume of vehicles, China's demand for coal "is clearly soaring".

He suggested that new rail networks could help the country meet the growing desire "to improve air quality" by reducing its reliance on coal and other fossil fuels.

Last month, DrivenData's Daniel Stas suggested that the introduction of electric or hybrid vehicles could be the reason behind the CO2 emission of new cars falling by 5.6 per cent between 2009 and 2010.

He added that reduction in car emissions is key to improving air quality.

Posted by Joseph Hutton