China’s central government has recently renewed the national cash-for-clunker program and new-energy car subsidies to fight rising air pollution allegedly caused mainly by vehicle emissions.

Owners who trade in their used semi-trailer trucks and heavy-duty trucks older than 10 years but still within the lifespan will still get a national rebate of 18,000 yuan for each this year, the same as last year, the commerce and finance ministries in a joint statement yesterday.

Although the program aimed to remove highly polluting commercial vehicles from the roads, owners of passenger cars are also encouraged to take advantage of an electric car promotion to convert to an environmentally-friendly vehicle. Twelve cities and areas were picked as the second batch of places to conduct trials of energy cars. The list, released last weekend, includes smog-plagued northern cities like Harbin, Changchun and Shenyang, and city clusters in provinces like Guizhou, Yunnan and Jiangsu.

Buyers of electric passenger cars living in the first batch of cities chosen for the trials of new energy cars, including Shanghai, enjoyed a maximum subsidy of 60,000 yuan (US$9,900) last year while electric plug-in hybrid purchasers were subsidized 35,000 yuan. The subsidies will be cut 5 percent this year and 10 percent in 2015 in a bid to strengthen the new energy car industry.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said vehicle exhaust was the main culprit for China’s air pollution in its 2013 report.