The new measures are part of Beijing's efforts to put in place a national plan introduced in September to reduce the country's dependence on coal in order to improve air quality. A number of China's cities are plagued with air quality problems, which has led to concerns about the environmental costs of the country's massive economic growth.
Last week, Beijing once again suffered hazardous levels of air pollution prompting the city's mayor to announce an "all-out effort" to tackle the smog.
Residents were advised to stay indoors as levels of fine particulate
pollution known as PM2.5 reached the highest in a year. Unhealthy and
even hazardous levels of air pollution have become commonplace in
Beijing and in 2013 the city endured a total of 189 polluted air days.On the West Coast of the U.S., pollution blown in from China can account for 12 to 24 percent of sulfate concentrations on any given day, a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found. That pollution caused Los Angeles to experience an extra day of smog levels that were above the federal health standards for ozone in 2006.
