Mazda Motor Corporation will begin a joint research project with Saudi Aramco and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) aimed at making internal combustion engines more efficient and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Saudi Aramco will develop a fuel with a refinery process that results in lower carbon dioxide emissions, and Mazda and AIST will research and develop a high-efficiency engine that uses the fuel. The initiative is expected to yield technologies that effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions on a well-to-wheel basis.

Mazda’s “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030” vision for technology development, announced in August last year, calls for the automaker to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions on a well-to-wheel basis, considering everything from fuel extraction through to driving.

Mazda says that 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 while driving on the road.