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Mazda and Saudi Aramco are working on a research project aimed at making internal-combustion engines cleaner and more efficient.

Saudi Aramco will develop a fuel with a refinery process that promises lower carbon-dioxide emissions, while Mazda and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology will research and develop a high-efficiency engine that uses the fuel.

Mazda says in a statement the initiative is expected to yield technologies that effectively reduce CO2 emissions on a well-to-wheel basis.

“It is no longer sufficient to focus solely on the tank-to-wheel phase and develop fuel-efficient engines and cars that emit low levels of carbon dioxide,” Mazda says.

For the automaker, the project fits with its Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 vision for technology development, announced last year.

Under this approach, Mazda aims to expand measures for CO2 reduction from a “well-to-wheel” perspective, considering emissions over the vehicle's entire life cycle.

It wants to reduce corporate average well-to-wheel CO2 output to 50% of 2010 levels by 2030, with a 90% reduction by 2050.

From next year it will start introducing electric vehicles and other electric drive technologies in regions that use a high ratio of clean energy for power generation or restrict certain vehicles to reduce air pollution.