FIAT SpA is poised to join Shanghai's greener city movement by supplying energy-efficient engines for the city's buses, the Italian firm's vice chairman said yesterday.

The Italian auto giant is interested to be actively involved in Shanghai's road to a greener city by supplying energy-efficient diesel and natural gas engines and offering traffic management practices to make life better in the city, John Elkann, vice chairman of Fiat, said during a meeting with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng yesterday.

Han said Shanghai will strengthen its environmental protection scheme, including requiring all new autos on the road to comply with the more stringent Euro IV emission standard before the World Expo 2010.

The city has about 16,000 buses and half of them are expected to meet the Euro IV standard by then, Han said.

The mayor said during the 20th International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai on Sunday that the government will pump US$10 billion for environmental protection over three years to 2011. Most of the money will be invested before the Expo.