China to scrap six million cars in air quality drive

Plan to remove cars from streets of Beijing and other cities in a bid to reduce air pollution

The Chinese government yesterday (May 26) announced plans to remove six million ‘high-polluting’ vehicles from its roads before the end of the year, in a bid to improve the country’s air quality.

All vehicles that do not meet the country’s mandatory exhaust emissions standards will be targeted as part of the initiative. 20% of those expected to be affected will be in the Beijing and Tianjin regions and the Hebei province in the north of the country.

China is planning to remove several million vehicles from the road before the end of 2014

Up to a third of the air pollution in the Chinese capital Beijing, is thought to have come from vehicle emissions, according to the Chinese government. An additional five million vehicles are likely to be targeted in 2015.

In a statement, the government said: “Strengthening control on vehicle emissions will be a major agenda item for the country’s energy savings, emissions reductions, and low-carbon development during the next two years,” according to the action plan.”

Pollution

Air pollution in China and particularly its larger cities has been well-documented over recent years, with dust, coal-fired power station emissions and traffic pollution all contributing to the problem.

In December 2013, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy travelled to Beijing to stage talks between the United States and China on greater co-operation to address air pollution (see airqualitynews.com story).