China’s growing middle class now demands cleaner air… while Beijing’s bureaucrats are working furiously to balance growth with pollution.

In March, China cracked down on polluting and wasteful cars using heavy-consumption taxes against cars with the biggest engines. Tax rates for big cars are nearly seven times higher than for the smallest ones. Adding 20 percent to the cost of an SUV is steering consumers away. Also, within two years China will mandate the strictest fuel-economy standards in the world forcing manufacturers to top every other industrialized nation. (Reuters)

Leave a Reply