What’s polluting India’s air?

The answer everyone seems to have, but not really.

Air pollution in India is suffering from an interesting problem — the problem of oversaturation. Come November, the issue dominates the national and individual conversation. Chances are, even casual observers of news are deeply familiar with the polluting effects of ‘PM 2.5’. On the policy front, the government has rolled out several key initiatives geared towards reducing air pollution in Delhi. These range from broader goals like the National Clean Air Plan (NCAP) to sectoral interventions like the Ujjwala Yojna, focusing on clean cooking fuel. All factors considered this seems like a problem we not only have a good understanding of but also are taking active steps to mitigate.

And yet as research by CEEW shows, India lacks a formal emissions inventory — a fundamental requirement to understanding air pollution — which could profile emissions across sectors.

The report ‘What’s polluting India’s Air — The need for an official emissions database’ highlights the huge gap in our understanding of the extent to which certain sectors impact air quality in India. Collecting and analyzing data from 3 international (ECLIPSE, EDGAR, REAS) and 2 national (SMoG, TERI) sources, the report brings out the variations in emission estimates across sectors and pollutants.