Chennai registered dip in sulfur dioxide emissions in 2019: Report

Invisible to the human eye, the SO2 is a toxic gas emitted from burning of fossil fuels among other products.

CHENNAI: Chennai’s SO2 (sulfur dioxide) emissions from coal plants decreased from 168 kilo tonnes per year in 2018 to 142 kilo tonnes in 2019, reveals a report published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clear Air (CREA) and the Greenpeace India. Invisible to the human eye, the SO2 is a toxic gas emitted from burning of fossil fuels among other products.

The poisonous air pollutant increases risk of health conditions like stroke, heart diseases, asthma and lung cancer.  According to a report, Chennai is the only major Indian city that features in the top 50 hotspots.

• According to a report, Chennai is the only major Indian city that features in the top 50 hotspots
• The analysis highlights that the SO2 levels are further decreasing in 2020, probably due to lesser energy demand due to the pandemic
• For the first time in four years, India’s (SO2) emissions too recorded a significant decline of approximately by 6% in 2019 compared to 2018
• Earlier, China was the top emitter, but India overtook it. Emissions grew 50% since early 2000s
• The report is based on data sourced from NASA’s MEaSUREs program
• Even though the SO2 levels have gradually decreased, researchers and analysts say that it is vital for India, a country which emits 21% of global anthropogenic SO2 emissions, to speed up the process to move towards renewable energy and implement stringent emission control norms
• The report states that most power stations in the country still do not meet the emission control standards set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
• The Centre in 2015 directed all the power plants to set up Flue-Gas Desulfurization (FGD), a technology used to remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, which in way reduces the emission levels
• As most power stations did not set up the plant by 2017, the MoEF&CC extended the deadline to 2022. The report finds that majority power plants still have not installed the technology, resulting in high levels of SO2 emissions

Chennai ranks 36 among the 50 anthropogenic SO2 (sulfur dioxide) emitting hotspots which use various sources of energy for combustion

Ranks 18th among the top 50 SO2 hotspots that use just coal as main source of combustion