Beijing plans to rid itself of all high-polluting diesel vehicles that do not meet National Emission Standard IV or above by 2020, an official with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said. Some buses that fail to meet National Emission Standard III or above will also be phased out by 2020, CRIENGLISH.com.
Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, Fang Li, announced Friday that Beijing is the first Chinese city to fully execute the fifth phase of the emissions standard. The city has effectively been able to do away with all "yellow-label cars" (or “Huangbiaoche”) that did not meet the National Emission Standard I by the end of 2014.
Fang also said that measures taken to control Beijing’s air pollution have helped to bring down the average PM2.5 density levels by 15.5 percent from 2012 to 2015. As of 2015, the average level of density was 80.6 micrograms per cubic meter.
READ MORE: Beijing's Air Quality Shows Marked Improvement in 2016
This new restriction on vehicles should play a large role in further reducing the average PM2.5 density levels. According to the same article, vehicle emissions are responsible for much of Beijing’s pollution problem. The over five million vehicles in the city let off an estimated 700,000 tons of pollutants each year.
[Photo via Xinhua]
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