New Delhi: A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looks at science-based solutions to air pollution in Asia and the Pacific region.
The release of the report comes on the heels of a major new report by the World Health Organization which says that at least 60,987 children in India, under the age of five, died in 2016 due to causes linked to air pollution.
Both the WHO and UNEP reports were released at the WHO’s first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health.
Also read: Air Quality in North India Is Already Hazardous, but the Worst Is yet to Come
The UNEP report has 25 solutions why they recommend to tackle air pollution. UNEP says that implementing these measures would result in a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide and a 45% reduction in methane emissions, preventing up to a third of a degree Celsius in global warming. They estimate that these measures would help one billion people breathe cleaner air by 2030.
About seven million people worldwide die prematurely every year from air pollution related diseases. The Asia Pacific region accounts for two thirds of these deaths. India is struggling with 14 of the 20 most polluted cities of the world, according to the WHO. Premature deaths linked to air pollution in India, account for 25% of the global deaths.
Science-based solutions
The UNEP’s report has made the 25 solutions taking into account the diversity of the Asia and Pacific region. Their measures can be categorised into three types.
One set of measures looks at increasing emission standards for vehicles, power plants and industry. Another set looks at the reduction in burning of waste and proper management of livestock manure. A third set looks at renewable energy.
“The top 25 measures not only represent wins for cities and countries looking to improve air quality, but also provide next-generation business opportunities and boost economic growth,” says the report. As an example for this, the report cites the case of Mumbai.
Mumbai has announced it would push for increase the number of electric vehicles to 500,000 and that Maharashtra would be a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles and their components.
As conventional measures, the report suggests post-combustion controls (this means end-of-pipe measures to reduce sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions at power stations and in large-scale industry), industrial process emission standards (especially for iron and steel plants, cement factories, glass production, chemical industry) and emission standards for road vehicles, maintenance of vehicles and dust control.
In the second category of measures, the report suggests dealing with and regulating agricultural crop residues, residential waste burning, forest fires, livestock manure management, nitrogen fertilisers, brick kilns, international shipping, solvent use and refineries.
In the third category of measures the report discusses regulating cooking and heating fuels, power generation, energy efficiency in house and industries, electric vehicles, public transport, solid waste management, waste water treatment and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.
India’s place in the global air pollution debate
Several problems faced by India and measures taken to tackle pollution are cited in the report.
India is described as “leap frogging” in the arena of pushing towards energy efficiency technologies “due in part to the ongoing implementation of increasingly stringent standards on old and new coal-fired power plants”. India’s National Clean Air Programme is also cited by the report, which has planned to expand the air monitoring network, improving the dissemination of data and public outreach, and calls for the prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
The role of India’s Supreme Court also finds mention. “The impetus for regulatory change sometimes comes from institutions outside government agencies,” says the report, citing court orders such as the one that shifted Delhi’s entire public transport fleet on to compressed natural gas.
Other Indian laws that find mention include the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981, Motor Vehicles Bill of 1988, the Auto Fuel Policy of 2002, the National Environment Policy of 2006, and the National Green Tribunal Bill of 2009.
The report also talks about India’s efforts to deal with agricultural residue (where the government has been asking power companies to buy agricultural waste and convert it into biomass pellets) and the government’s efforts to reduce nitrogen based fertiliser usage (the government has started an initiative for coating urea-nitrogen with neem oil, a nitrification inhibitor that can reduce nitrogen loss by 10–15%).
Also read: How Delhi Knew What To Do To Fix Its Air Pollution in 1997 – But Didn’t Act
The report talks about the persistent problem in India of indoor air pollution due to traditional cooking and heating practices in India. The contribution of indoor air pollution to ambient air pollution is estimated to vary between 22 and 52% in India. Cleaning up household cooking and heating in India, will substantially improve ambient air quality in the area as well, according to several studies.
On this, the report cites India’s cookstove programme which aims to help approximately 100 million households with modernising their cook stoves. This includes India’s National Programme for Improved Chulhas, National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
This particular scheme is considered a flagship scheme for this government and although being widely publicised by the government, has been found to be inflating its figures of success and with poor implementation on the ground.