Poor air quality is a significant environmental risk we are grappling with today. In most Indian cities, the concentration of PM10 particles is much higher than the WHO’s guidelines. It persists year-round and worsens during winter due to stagnant weather conditions that trap pollutants near the ground. Artificial rain through cloud seeding offers temporary relief but depends on moisture-laden clouds and has prohibitive costs, mixed outcomes, and uncertain success. Tackling air pollution’s root causes is crucial.
Source apportionment studies carried out by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) across various cities highlighted that transport, industries, re-suspended dust and biomass burning in residential sectors are dominant contributors to air pollution.
Growing consumerism and rising vehicles on the road significantly contribute to PM2.5 pollution. The current Pollution Under Control system does not measure PM emissions from vehicles and can be easily manipulated. Delhi and NCR mandate a 10-year age limit for commercial vehicles, as older ones pollute significantly more than BSVI vehicles.
Traffic congestion is a ubiquitous issue, even in cities with well-developed infrastructure, exacerbating air quality problems. Although the transition to electric vehicles is underway, the pace is sluggish due to the lack of an enabling ecosystem. Moreover, public transport in most non-attainment cities operates at suboptimal levels, with service quality rated at three or four, instead of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s recommended level of two.
Despite the availability of metro systems in several cities, inadequate last-mile connectivity often makes them less accessible and costlier for daily commuters. Curbing transport emissions requires cleaner technologies, scrappage policy enforcement, intelligent traffic systems, and strengthened public transportation.
In the industrial sector, the use of biomass, coal, and unauthorised fuels by medium and small-scale enterprises poses a significant challenge. Even industries with operational consent often fail to report accurate emissions or use approved fuels. The efficacy of installed air pollution control devices remains questionable due to poor operational practices.
Municipal solid waste burning is yet another source of air pollution. Even if the collection efficiency of the waste management system in cities is over 90 percent, segregation at the source is negligible, resulting in landfills. The answer is also in looking at carbon markets to leverage additional funding for waste treatment infrastructure.
Re-suspended dust, primarily from unpaved and poorly maintained roads, construction sites and barren land is a big issue. While a band-aid solution like water sprinkling can provide immediate relief, paving roads, effectively maintaining infrastructure and enforcing construction guidelines are long-term solutions.
Unsustainable agriculture practices, including higher usage of fertilisers, also aggravate air pollution. Promoting biofertilisers reduces reliance on chemical fertilisers and minimises ammonia emissions, supporting sustainable agricultural practices and improving air quality. Biomass burning for cooking and heating in rural areas remains a persistent issue. Biogas plants offer a solution for rural waste management, providing cleaner fuel for kitchens and organic fertiliser to support sustainable agricultural practices in rural areas.
Since air pollution knows no boundaries, emissions from rural areas contribute to urban air quality deterioration. A typical example is the burning of parali (paddy stubble), quite common in the North from end-September through mid-November. Chronically, Delhi and the national capital region struggle to cope with poor air quality during this period every year. Furthermore, pollution from sources outside Indian cities often outweighs local emissions, highlighting the need to adopt a regional airshed strategy over a city-centric approach for effective management.
Air pollution also affects public health, raising the question of whether a portion of the health budget could be redirected toward improving air quality. Additionally, since sources of air pollution contribute to climate change, there is a need to integrate sector-specific policies that address both air quality improvement and carbon emission reduction.
Valuable lessons can be learned from China’s approach to tackling air pollution. Once among the most polluted cities globally, Beijing has made remarkable progress in improving air quality. Beginning in the 1970s, the efforts to control Beijing’s air pollution evolved through three phases. From 1970 to 1990, the focus was on mitigating emissions from coal-fired facilities. In the following decade, attention shifted to industrial and vehicular emissions. Since 2000, the city has addressed complex regional pollution.
Beijing’s government has prioritised air pollution control since 1998, implementing a broad range of measures, including promoting clean energy, controlling vehicle emissions, upgrading industrial structures, enhancing air quality monitoring, and raising public awareness. The phased programme in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region targeted vehicle emission controls on new and in-use vehicles, fuel quality, clean energy adoption, traffic management, and incentives for retiring old vehicles, alongside investments in rail transit and non-motorised infrastructure.
China’s Great Green Wall, also known as the Three-North Shelterbelt Programme, is a monumental afforestation initiative aimed at curbing desertification, reducing air pollution, and improving biodiversity. In the decades since its inception in 1978, the programme has focused on planting billions of trees across the northern arid regions of China to form a protective barrier against advancing deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert.
This project has reduced wind-blown dust storms and particulate matter emissions from barren lands and improved soil quality. The initiative has evolved into a sustainable model for large-scale environmental restoration by integrating advanced technology like satellite monitoring and community participation. Lessons from this project can inspire similar efforts in India to combat re-suspended dust emissions and enhance urban greenery as part of long-term air pollution control strategies.
(Views are personal)
Vibha Dhawan | Director General, TERI
