For much of the Kyoto climate change summit in Japan in early December it appeared the chances of carbon emission actually reducing in the near future were virtually nil.

But if the recent comments from the US car industry are taken at face value, that may not be the case.

The General Motors Vice-President, Dennis Minano, has promised: "GM will build a car that is 99% emissions-free."

This, he added, "will guarantee that America has the cleanest fleet of motor vehicles in the world well into the next century".

The United States, as pundits never tired of repeating from Kyoto, produces a quarter of the world's pollution and the petrol-powered car is the single largest cause of American emissions.

American industry reacted furiously to the international proposals that pollution levels should be cut and mounted a publicity drive to try to prevent the US delegation from agreeing to do so.

However, the new announcements from General Motors and other car makers appear to be motivated by a new belief: clean vehicles can be good business.

"General Motors and Ford are acting under pressure from Kyoto and competitors," said Alden Meyer, an official with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

A voluntary programme agreed by the industry encourages car firms to try to cut emissions from cars by 70% in the next century.

But the fresh commitments by Ford and GM comes shortly after two Japanese companies, Toyota and Honda, said they would be introducing "clean cars" into the US market in the next few years.

Toyota's Prius is expected to be on sale in America by 2001, while Honda hopes to be first into the arena, with a natural gas-powered Civic GX model with an emission level of next to zero being launched in 1998.

The American manufacturers are sticking to petrol in place of natural gas, but plan to develop catalytic converters that all but negate the carbon emissions.

However it is done, "clean cars" remain pricey for the time being.

The Prius sells for $17,000 in Japan but, according to the Washington Post, the real cost in $39,000.

But with the prospect of a growing market in the next century, car makers presumably feel it is a side of the business they can no longer ignore.
 

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