Amendments approved to China's 15-year-old air pollution law

China’s rubber-stamp legislature has approved amendments expected to make local governments responsible for meeting environmental targets and which ban firms from behavior designed to distort emissions readings, Reuters reported. But lawmakers rejected proposals to include specific coal consumption targets in the law and also ruled out a clause allowing local authorities to set their own restrictions on car use, according to state news agency Xinhua. Wang Yi, head of the policy committee of the China Academy of Sciences and a member of the NPC’s standing committee, has told Chinese media the law fails to set clear goals on emissions and air quality standards.