Beijing subsidizing scrapping older, less-green vehicles

BEIJING - The Chinese capital will continue to subsidize the scrappage of aging and heavy-diesel vehicles in response to concerns over the city's air pollution, an official with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said Tuesday.

In 2012, Beijing citizens and businesses will receive a governmental subsidy of 2,500 to 14,500 yuan ($397 to $2,301) for each aging or heavy-diesel vehicle scrapped, said Zang Yuanwei, director of the bureau's vehicle management department.

They will receive an additional award ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 yuan from carmakers when purchasing a new vehicle on the "aging car transaction platform," Zang said.

The government defines "aging" vehicles in this case as ones that have been in service for six or more years and operate with the current national standards of emissions. And "heavy-diesel" refers to a particularly polluting type of fuel generally used in industrial vehicles.

Around 5 percent of the capital's vehicles run on heavy diesel, yet statistics from the Environmental Protection Bureau show they are responsible for 46 percent of all oxynitride and 96 percent of particular matter emitted by the city's vehicles.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has released a draft new standard which specifies stricter limits for a variety of vehicle emissions, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitric oxide and particulate matter.

The number of vehicles currently registered in Beijing exceeds 5 million, indicating that one in four residents of the city owns a car. The municipal government implemented a license plate lottery system at the beginning of 2011 to limit vehicle purchases.