With economic development comes pollution and no other country in the world faces greater challenges than China in this respect. In an attempt to reduce the smog that is suffocating large cities, the Chinese government has announced that it plans to eliminate 6 million high-polluting vehicles from the country’s streets before the end of this year.
“The mandatory rule applies to vehicles that do not meet exhaust emissions standards,” the government said in a press release, adding that 20 percent of the vehicles to be eliminated this year are in the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as Hebei Provnce.
All these are northern regions frequently troubled by smoggy air in recent years. According to China’s environmental authorities, 31.1 percent of air pollution in Beijing has come from vehicle exhaust.
But the authorities’ plans don’t stop here. More vehicles will be scrapped next year, more specifically up to 5 million units in China’s economically developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions.
According to the action plan published by the State Council, “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.”
What the report doesn’t say, however, is how the state plans to compensate owners of polluting cars that are to be scrapped.
By Dan Mihalascu
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