Air Pollution in Asia and the Pacific: Science-based Solutions

The report titled "Air pollution in Asia and the Pacific: Science-based solutions" was launched at the World Health Organisation's first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Geneva. The report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looks at science-based solutions to air pollution in Asia and the Pacific region. The UNEP report has 25 solutions 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.

Air pollution problem:

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. India’s toxic air has been linked to over 2 million premature deaths, accounting for 25% of global deaths due to air pollution. Of this, around 1,10,000 are children who died because of exposure to air pollution.

Problems faced by India highlighted in report:

• 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.
• 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”.
• The draft National Clean Air Programme clearly failed to mention sector specific targets for reducing emissions from industry and coal power sector. India’s National Clean Air Programme, 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 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%).

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.

• Conventional emission controls focusing on emissions that lead to the formation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). 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.
• Further (next-stage) air-quality measures for reducing emissions that lead to the formation of PM2.5 and are not yet major components of clean air policies in many parts of the region. 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.
• Measures contributing to development priority goals with benefits for air quality. 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.

Implementing the 25 measures is projected to cost US$300–600 billion per year, only about 5% of the projected annual GDP increase of US$12 trillion. In addition to delivering substantial benefits to human health, food production, environmental protection and climate change mitigation, a basket of co-benefits will accrue, including savings on pollution control.

By: Dr. Vivek Rana