Beijing is set to become the first city in China to adopt National V emission standards for motor vehicles in 2012.
In an effort to curb the city's worsening air pollution, Beijing's Environment Protection Agency announced that Beijing plans to become the first city to adopt the National V emission standards for motor vehicles in the first half of 2012, the equivalent of the Euro V specification.
National IV requires fuel sulphur levels below 50 parts per million (ppm). The new emission standards will require the use of gasoline or diesel with sulphur levels below 10 parts per million (ppm). Once the new standards are implemented, new cars not meeting National V emissions cannot be sold in the Capital.
Around 66% of the nitrogen oxide - a key element of smog - found in the atmosphere in China's cities comes from vehicle exhaust, according to the China Academy of Social Sciences, while carbon dioxide emissions exceed sulphur dioxide emissions by a factor of 1:38.
Improvements in China's vehicle fuel quality have been accelerating rapidly, with a move from National I in 1999 to National V in 2012 indicating an upgrade once every three years, compared to every five-six years in the US and Japan.