China speeds up removal of high-emission vehicles

BEIJING - The Ministry of Environmental Protection on Tuesday condemned provincial governments that fall behind in the campaign to remove high-emission vehicles from roads.

In March, China set a target of removing all high-emission commercial vehicles registered before 2006 from roads. Guangxi, Yunnan, Tianjin and Tibet have fulfilled their obligations ahead of schedule, while Shaanxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Ningxia, Shandong and Beijing are making slow progress, the ministry said in a statement.

From January to October, a total of 995,200 high-emission vehicles have been taken off the roads, accounting for 85.5 percent of the year's target, it said.