Fujian province is lagging behind in its efforts to remove obsolete and seriously polluting vehicles from the road, according to the Environmental Protection Ministry in a recent report.

About 4.8 million old cars and “yellow label cars” – a term referring to those which fail to meet emission standards – were eliminated across China throughout the first ten months this year, accounting for 80 percent of the 6-million target for the year, said the Ministry.

But some provinces, including Fujian, are behind schedule.

Figures show that some 772,000 yellow label cars were got rid of in Fujian, taking up 78 percent of the 990,000-unit quota.

Automobile exhausts are gravely harmful to air quality. As the capital city of Fujian, Fuzhou should lead by example in the campaign of eliminating old and polluting cars with an appropriate subsidy mechanism for car owners accordingly, experts say.