Beijing eyes clean transportation as solution to air pollution

Clean transportation could solve China's issue with emissions

Air pollution in China has been a problematic issue for some time. The country's massive population and rapid commercial and industrial growth has produced high levels of emissions that are beginning to have a serious impact on the health of residents of the country's largest cities. Recently, an eight-year-old girl in Eastern China became the youngest living person to be diagnosed with lung cancer. Chinese officials have cited air pollution as the cause of the ailment.

Beijing launches new initiative concerning hybrid and electric vehicles

In an effort to address the pollution problem, the Chinese government has been making efforts to promote the use of renewable energy and break away from fossil-fuels. These efforts have had a modest impact, however, which has led China's largest cities to make aggressive moves to cut down on emissions. In Beijing, transportation has been targeted, with city officials keen to significantly cut down on the emissions that vehicles are responsible for by encouraging drivers to purchase electric and hybrid models.

New mandate promotes clean transportation

Beijing has issued a mandate that requires no less than 40% of the vehicles on the city's roads to be hybrid or electric vehicles. This mandate will take full effect by 2017 and is expected to have a significant impact on the emissions that are produced by the transportation sector. This is not the only effort that the city is making to cut down on emissions, of course, as it is also threatening capital punishment to those that produce a large amount of emissions on an annual basis.

Limiting license plate issuance may help reduce emissions

Beijing is also limiting the number of license plates it will be issuing in the future. Currently, the city issues some 240,000 new license plates every year. Beijing officials will cut this number down to 150,000 new license plates per year in the near future. This initiative is expected to limit the number of vehicles that are driven in the city, thereby reducing emissions.