Air Pollution
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Air pollution in the country has emerged as a public health catastrophe, costing India over a million lives and 1.6 to 1.8 per cent of GDP annually. Research from various organisations, including the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) outlined vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, crop burning and construction dust as the major contributors to such pollution. With the onset of winter, the problem becomes severe despite the country having adopted ‘clean air’ programmes.
India has a target of 40 per cent reduction of PM2.5 levels by 2026, but scientists believe this is unlikely to be achieved. According to IQ Air data, 42 of the top 50 most polluted cities were in India. This is because there is no seriousness in tackling the problem. Of course, the government takes the biggest share of the blame, and quite justifiably so, but it is by no means the only stakeholder that is complicit.
India’s transportation sector accounts for 2.9 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, demanding a structured policy to bring this down. And while EV (electric vehicles) sales surged 42 per cent in 2024, there is need to give a boost, specially in cities with more incentives for public transport. As regards industry, which contributes 30-35 per cent of India’s CO2 emissions, leniency by the states due to unholy nexus with the political leaders needs to be effectively tackled. Those violating environmental rules and regulations need to be hauled up.
As regards power plants, research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed that 96 per cent of particulate pollution from coal plants is secondary, arising from chemical transformation of emitted gases such as sulphur dioxide. Despite the Environment Ministry introducing emission standards, the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) system has been quite slow. As of this August, only 39 units across the country installed the system whereas work is yet to be completed in 220-odd units. Most thermal power plants unfortunately got leniency, polluting neighbouring air.
Experts estimated that FGD can reduce the concentration of SO2 by 55 per cent within a 80 km radius and sulphate aerosols by 30 per cent up to 100 km. However, FGD involved significant costs i.e. Rs 1 to Rs 2 crore per megawatt in addition to Rs 0.5-0.6 per unit to its generation. Besides, Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and the second-largest contributor to climate warming after CO2.
Another major source of pollution is agriculture. Such as livestock, where ruminants produce methane in the course of digesting food and the other area is paddy rice. The next source is waste and landfills, where organic matter like food waste, plant debris etc. into landfills results in a lot of methane production. In the global scenario, the most significant is the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), put forth by the European Union and the US and 159 countries have signed this Pledge.
Among metros, the national capital, Delhi, has been grappling with severe air pollution. Experts indicated that the situation is like what Beijing had faced around 2013. That very year in March, the then Chinese premier pledged to fight pollution and accordingly by 2023, pollution levels were drastically brought down. It is worth mentioning that both capitals sit on basins close to mountain ranges, which prevent easy dispersal of pollutants. As a result, winter conditions such as calm winds, temperature inversion, humidity and lack of rain cause massive spikes in pollution.
India launched the National Clean Air Policy (NCAP) rather late in 2019, with a modest target of reducing particulate matter by 20-30 per cent over 2017 levels in five years across 121 cities. The NCAP target has since been revised to a 40 per cent reduction by 2026, but experts believe it is rather optimistic and unlikely to be reached.
As regards other cities, Indore in Madhya Pradesh is said to be the cleanest city with better air quality in the country, though it reported a 21 per cent rise in the level of particulate matter, PM10 in 2023-24 compared to 2017-18. The city joined 30 others including Navi Mumbai, Vizag, Guwahati, Chandigarh and many others that reported increase in PM10. On the air quality front, Vizag reported 58 per cent increase (second worst in the list of 31) in the level of PM10 in FY2023-24 compared to FY 2017-18. However, big metros like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai have shown some improvement but still are not good enough to meet the annual average acceptable limit.
Over the years, clean technologies have been introduced at a cost of thousands of crores with refinery upgrades alone costing Rs 35,000 crore. One key improvement in BS-VI compliant fuel, with its negligible sulphur content. BS III norms mandated sulphur limits of 150 parts per million (ppm) for petrol and 350 ppm for diesel while BS IV reduced both by 50 ppm and 10 ppm. However, this relates mainly to the transportation sector whereas not much has changed in strictly enforcing environmental regulations.
Meanwhile, there has been global pressure on India to phase out coal in stages and this needs consideration. In the agriculture sector, stubble burning must be curbed and perhaps technology from countries such as Argentina and Brazil could be inducted. At the same time, government can’t have too many expectations on global funding and will need to generate resources to tackle air pollution—perhaps tap private sector to play its CSR role.
Innovative financing models like green bonds may be garnered to support public transport, urban greening etc. It is heartening to note that the World Bank has committed $1.5 billion for the Indo-Gangetic plain states for better air management. Forestry is another area that needs to be encouraged but the government is not quite serious on it. Finally, it goes without saying the clean air, apart from being a crucial environmental issue has to be viewed as an economic asset for social well-being.
The challenge of tackling air quality is undoubtedly daunting. Environmental rules need to be strictly enforced. Leniency shown to air polluting industries needs to be done away with. Changes need to be brought into transportation sector, not just in big cities but across country. The government must meet targets, or at least make genuine effort. Passing the buck will only cause more harm. — INFA