China will ban the sale and import of “dirty” coal in less than four months, a top government body said, in an anti-pollution move that could have repercussions for key exporters including Australia.

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Coal with sulphur content of more than three per cent and ash content of more than 40 per cent will no longer be permitted as of January 1, according to a notice posted late Monday on the website of China’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner.

The Chinese government made the move “in an effort to improve air quality in its major cities”, the official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.

China’s three decades of rapid industrialisation have transformed its economy and seen incomes soar, but have also brought severe environmental consequences including smog that regularly blankets its cities.

Much of that pollution is driven by the Asian giant’s heavy reliance on coal.

China is the world’s largest consumer of coal, accounting for around half of global consumption.

Seeking to address mounting public concern about the environment, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in March said that China “will declare war against pollution and fight it with the same determination we battled poverty”.

The government will shut down 50,000 small coal-fired furnaces this year, clean up coal-burning power plants and remove six million high-emission vehicles from the roads, Li said.

Australia – whose economic growth has been fuelled in part by Chinese demand for energy and raw materials – may feel the brunt of the impact of Beijing’s latest move.

The country exports 50 million tonnes of thermal coal a year to China, according to Xinhua.