The move is intended to help the country curb local air pollution

May 28, 2014 13:21 GMT  ·  By

High officials in China have recently announced that the country is looking into the possibility to scrap about 5.33 million cars that have long passed their prime and that constitute a major source of dangerous emissions.

In a statement, the Chinese State Council explains that this move is expected to help curb air pollution levels in this part of the world, and thus make the country a tad safer both for its inhabitants and for visitors.

What's more, it appears that China believes its decision to remove millions of polluting cars from its roads will aid it meet air pollution reduction targets set in place for the period between 2011 and 2013 and that the country has already fallen behind on.

Should things go according to plan, China's capital city Beijing will part with about 330,000 polluting vehicles that do not meet national fuel standards by the end of this year, Business Green reports.

The surrounding province of Hebei, on the other hand, will be left without approximately 660,000 cars shown to release a tad too much emissions and cause environmental pollution, the same source tells us.

This initiative is not the first time that China turns its attention towards its fleet in an attempt to make the air hovering over it a wee more breathable. On the contrary, several similar measures have recently been implemented.

Thus, it was just last year that high officials in Beijing had the city pay for about 200,000 cars to be upgraded and made more environmentally friendly, and also announced that the urban area would issue 37% fewer new license plates than it had done in previous years.

Besides, China's capital city made it known that is was ready and willing to offer incentives of up to $2,300 (roughly €1,830) to folks who would agree to scrap their old polluting cars on their own accord.

While it is true that air pollution resulting from the intense use of fossil fuels is a major problem in China these days, it turns out that, at least as far as Beijing is concerned, emissions originating from cars are far worse.

More precisely, it is said that, whereas coal burning accounts for about one fifth of China's capital city overall emissions of airborne fine particulate matter, cars driven up and down roads in this urban area on a daily basis account for approximately 31%. Hence, it should not come as a surprise that they are now being targeted by lawmakers.