China’s expanding economic development has a significant environmental impact. China is already the worlds second largest polluter despite improvements in energy efficiency in the last decade. It has increased its emissions by 33 percent between 1992 and 2002.

General Motors Corp. Chairman Rick Wagoner, “We believe fuel cell vehicles offer the best long-term solution for meeting the world’s growing demand for automobiles in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner,”.

Hydrogen-powered cars are seen as vehicles of the future as they do not use gasoline and their only by-product is water vapor. However the production and storage of hydrogen and the building of a hydrogen infrastructure of refueling stations could take decades and billions of dollars to build.

China being behind developed nations when it comes to supporting a car culture may be to it’s advantage. There isn’t a cumbersome – and entrenched – gasoline infrastructure to stand in the way of alternative fuel solutions.

China is already taking bold steps toward an alt-fuel future. In late 2003, Beijing mandated some of the world’s toughest fuel-efficiency standards. China is even now one of the largest markets for alternative fuel vehicles, with 200,000 in service.

General Motors announced a plan to build environmentally-friendly hybrids, a car that uses both a combustion engine and electric motors, in China by 2008. The hybrid would go into mass production at the Shanghai GM plant, a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

Toyota Motor, the world’s second biggest automaker after GM and a pioneer of environmentally friendly cars, began production in China of its popular Prius hybrid at the end of 2005.

China hopes to eventually bypass the oil-based auto culture and go right to a hydrogen economy. In the meantime, the hybrid vehicle is seen as an interim solution to the full development of a clean car.

The Chinese auto market grew by 76 percent in 2003 and by 2010 China will be the biggest market in the world. The critical question, economically and environmentally is; What will 1.3 billion people drive?