Curbing Car Emissions

[Anchor Lead]

The mayors of Seoul, Paris and London put on a joint news conference to announce efforts in each of their cities to curb car emissions, one of the main contributors to air pollution. We take you to the event in Paris in this report.

[Pkg]

Fine dust concentration levels in Seoul this year surpassed the permissible level of 50 micrograms on 12 days. Air pollution also intensified in Paris back in January, prompting authorities to ban cars with odd or even numbered registration plates in order for four days. The mayor of Paris, the leader of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, has held a joint news conference with the mayors of Seoul and London to announce efforts to fight air pollution. They pointed to car emissions as the main culprit behind the severity of the problem.

[Soundbite] Anne Hidalgo(Paris Mayor) : "Cars are among the main culprits of air pollution in cities."

The mayors of the three cities have agreed to begin by implementing environmental grades for vehicles. Cars will be graded based on the amount of environmental pollutants they emit on the roads, such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. The mayors will also set new international standards for vehicle grading. London will be the first to disclose information on its vehicle emissions in the second half of the year.

[Soundbite] Park Won-soon(Seoul Mayor) : "I believe that by imposing stricter regulations, we can reduce car emissions, one of the causes of poor air quality."

The vehicle grading system implemented by the mayors of Seoul, Paris and London will be adopted by 90 member-cities of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in stages.