China unveiled a plan on July 13 that encourages government organs to buy more new-energy vehicles, which has been hailed as an important move in fighting pollution and driving the slowly growing new-energy car market.

From 2014 to 2016, new-energy vehicles will account for no less than 30 percent of newly purchased cars in state organs, according to the plan jointly released by the National Government Offices Administration (NGOA), National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The plan also applies to government organs and public service institutions in regions where controlling fine particle emissions has become a challenging task in the fight against pollution, an NGOA spokesman said.

The number of new-energy vehicles will account for at least 15 percent of new cars in 2014 for local government departments and institutions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, the Yangtze River Delta in the east, and the Pearl River Delta in the south.

That percentage will be raised year by year in government organs, public service institutions and organizations that are wholly or partially supported by government funds, according to the spokesman.

To implement the plan, the Central Government promised to offer subsidies for new-energy vehicles priced less than 180,000 yuan ($29,000) and ordered local governments to build more facilities for the use of new-energy vehicles.