China is looking to remove over five million vehicles from its roads by the end of the year to improve air quality.
The move is part of a plan designed by China's cabinet, the State Council, to cut emissions and reverse the damage done by decades of pollution, according to Reuters.
The cabinet said the country has to step up its efforts against pollution after missing targets over the 2011-2013 period.
The government said on its web portal that the plan "will be a major agenda item for the country's energy savings, emissions reductions and low-carbon development during the next two years," BBC News reported.
The capital Beijing will see the removal of over 300,000 cars. The state's environment agency has recently found that vehicle exhaust fumes are responsible for 31 percent of the air pollution in Beijing.
The policy document says that China plans to remove as many as 5.33 million "yellow label" vehicles that do not meet the country's fuel standards this year, Reuters reported. 660,000 vehicles will be taken out of Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing. Seven of the country's smoggiest cities as of 2013 are in Hebei.
Beijing is looking to limit the total amount of cars on the road to 5.6 million this year. This number is allowed to increase to 6 million by 2017.
China will also be fighting air pollution and smog by having quality upgrades in fuels, BBC News reported.
Earlier this year, the central government accepted that pollution was a real issue after reportedly denying its existence for years.
The document also said China was setting targets to close coal-fired heating systems, as well as to install equipment for reducing nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions at power stations, cement plants and steel mills, Reuters reported. It also said the country looks to bring down carbon emissions per unit of economic growth this year by over 4 percent in order to meet its 17 percent goal in its 2011-2015 five-year plan.
China also looks to meet a 16 percent target for reducing energy consumption per unit of growth by bringing consumption down by 3.9 percent this year and in 2015. The goal is for the 2011-2015 period.
