China – The city authorities in Beijing have initiated a special ‘scrapping bonus’ for old vehicles and those fuelled by heavy diesel, with the aim of improving air quality. China’s official press agency, Xinhua, reports that Beijing residents will receive from US$ 397 to 2300 (Euro 319-1848) under the new subsidy for each eligible car they hand over.
In order to qualify as an ‘older vehicle’, a car must have been on the road for at least six years, explains Zang Yanwei, head of the vehicle management department at the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. The agency defines heavy diesel as a ‘particularly polluting type of fuel generally used in industrial vehicles’.
Mr Zang added that, on top of the initial bonus, any resident purchasing a new and cleaner vehicle on the so-called ‘ageing car transaction platform’, will be awarded an additional sum of between US$ 315 and US$ 1575 depending on the make of car.
The new focus on car recycling results in part from a study, released earlier this year, that revealed a link between heavy diesel emission and an increased incidence of lung cancer in the Beijing area.
However, the first scrappage scheme is not the first of its kind in China. Nationwide programmes were launched in 2009 and 2010, aimed at increasing vehicles’ average fuel efficiency, while Shanghai set up a dedicated scheme of its own which ran for around a year.
For more information, visit: www.ebeijing.gov.cn
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