China to cull over million cars in attempt to cut air pollution

The Chinese government plans to take more than five million ageing vehicles off its roads in 2014 in a bid to improve air quality, with 330,000 cars set to be decommissioned in the capital city of Beijing alone.

A Reuters report quoting a government document to this effect says that as many as 5.33 million vehicles that fail to meet Chinese fuel standards will be "eliminated" this year. Apart from the cars that will be affected in Beijing, another 660,000 will also be withdrawn from Hebei, home to seven of China's most polluted cities in 2013.

The policy document also set new targets for the closure of coal-fired heating systems as well as the installation of equipment to reduce sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions at power stations, steel mills and cement plants.

China aims to cut carbon emissions per unit of economic growth by more than 4 percent this year and more than 3.5 percent in 2015 as it tries to meet a binding 17-percent target set in its 2011-2015 five-year plan.

While many Indian cities ban the operation of vehicles (including taxis and buses) that are over 15 years old, the addition of new cars is adding to air pollution in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. What worsens the situation is that the monitoring on in-use vehicles is not strict. The responsibility of checking for vehicular pollution rests with the transport department of the cities. New Delhi remains one of the worst affected cities despite being the only one in which public transport has shifted totally to CNG thanks to a Supreme Court order of 2004.