BEIJING - As part of the municipality's push to further reduce pollutants in the air, Beijing's traffic authority has launched a campaign targeting large trucks that fail to meet gas emission standards.

Cargo trucks are to blame for 33 percent of nitric oxide emissions in the city and account for a majority of fine particle emission by vehicles, officials from the Beijing traffic management bureau said on Thursday.

Starting on Thursday, the authority began stepping up gas emission checks of cargo trucks at checkpoints and onramps outside Beijing, and trucks that fail to meet the standard will not be given access to the city.

Meanwhile, gas emission checks of cargo trucks will also be conducted inside the city 24 hours a day, and trucks that evade emission checks and sneak into the city will also be targeted, according to the authority.

The move, the authority said, is intended to improve the capital city's air quality and further reduce the city's PM 2.5 index.