LA mayor shares pollution combat tips

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti shared the city's anti-pollution strategies at the Stanford Center at Peking University on Thursday in Beijing.

Garcetti said that his city was once one of the world's most heavily polluted cities and that his experiences can translate to smog afflicted Chinese cities.

"LA and Beijing are two large cities easily trapped by dirty air," Garcetti said.

Facing the truth, an engaging government, private sector and people, are critical to fixing the pollution problem, Garcetti elaborated.

The mayor recalled LA's smoggy days during the 20th century. He said the smog came from a thriving economy and booming population.

"Sports and games were canceled," he recalled, adding that the situation is similar in Beijing now.

Garcetti led an 80 member delegation from LA to China in November.

The US ambassador to China Max Baucus said that he believed that it is urgent and important for the two countries to jointly act together to work on climate change and crack down pollution.

The agreement signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama during APEC, which were hosted in Beijing in early November, is a milestone for the two countries to make changes and history on climate change, Baucus said in Peking University on Thursday.

The US and China reached an agreement on climate change in November in China, with both countries announcing new targets to cap carbon dioxide emissions.