It's not as if you can tell because of the country's thick smog, but China actually has emissions standards. They don't work, but that hasn't stopped the People's Republic from attempting to find sunlight with yet another ban on cars.
The Chinese government wants to remove more than 5 million older vehicles that don't meet minimum tailpipe requirements and cap the traffic in Beijing to 5.6 million total cars this year, with an allowed increase of up to six million by 2017, according to Reuters.
Last year, eight Chinese cities pledged to limit the number of new car registrations on top of existing driving restrictions. In Beijing, where some vehicles are barred from entering and residents cannot drive during rush hour on a rotating basis for 13 weeks at a time, the city cut vehicle registrations by 37 percent last year to about 150,000 and has a "cash for clunkers" program that pays citizens to junk older and more noxious cars.
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In December, the U.S. government said it would help China update its existing emissions laws, which allow diesel sulfur emissions of 350 parts per million (or 35 times higher than in Europe). The U.S. said it wants China to require particulate filters on all diesel cars and trucks when the country eventually drops the sulfur limit to 10 ppm by 2017. Particulate matter from vehicles and coal plants, the kind that destroys lungs and requires face masks for anyone in constant exposure, is one of the country's major health threats. So far, lax enforcement and the sheer number of incredibly dirty vehicles—not to mention the 20-plus-million new vehicles sold in China last year alone—have smothered any discernible progress.
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