Drivers who leave their engines running while stationary will face £100 fines.
The penalties could be even higher for parents who leave their motors ticking over while parked outside schools.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is launching a consultation this summer as figures show vehicle idling causes the equivalent of 150 balloons filling with harmful chemicals including cyanide each minute.
Pollutants pumped out by exhausts can cause heart and lung disease, strokes and cancer and are particularly damaging to children.
Council officials will be encouraged to target idling at taxi ranks and bus stations.
Mr Grayling said: “We are determined to crack down on drivers who pollute our communities, particularly outside school gates where children breath in this toxic air.”
Thirty councils including London, Reading, Wirral, Norwich and Nottingham, already impose fines which range between £20 and £80.
But few drivers have been penalised due to lack of enforcement. Now Mr Grayling wants to make the powers and penalties uniform nationwide.
