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The hidden health fallouts of a warming world

Climate change has is the single largest global health challenge in the 21st century. The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines climate change as "a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere beyond the natural variations." A multi-country study has suggested that climate change is responsible for four lakh additional deaths each year and will contribute to seven lakh annual deaths by 2030. As per the UN, the world has endured a "decade of deadly heat", with 2024 capping 10 years of unprecedented temperatures. It is almost certain that it will exceed the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial levels of temperature for the first time. The World Meteorological Organisation has warned that the new year is likely to be worse, with the greenhouse gas levels growing to record highs. India also recorded its warmest year in 2024. It witnessed extreme weather on 255 of the 274 days of the year’s first nine months, according to the Centre for Science and Environment. The detrimental climatic factors for human health include an increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, precipitation, floods and droughts. The floods in Spain, hurricanes in the US, drought in the Amazon and floods across Africa are just a few examples. In West Asia, 1,300 Haj pilgrims died due to extreme heat in 2024. High temperature is known to increase the 'ground level ozone' and 'climate altering pollutants' other than carbon dioxide. They exacerbate cardio-respiratory and allergic diseases and certain cancers. Between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, heat-related deaths increased by 55 per cent in India. Due to heat exposure, it lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours in 2021, with income losses equivalent to 5.4 per cent of the GDP.

Delhi's Air Quality Worsens in 2024, Report Says, Despite Govt's Contrary Claims

Hacking coughs, smogs hindering visibility, schools stopping physical classes, construction being halted for some days, private vehicles not permitted to ply on many others – residents of Delhi witnessed all this and more due to hazardous levels of air pollution in 2024. Now, a detailed analysis by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released on Monday (January 6) shows that the annual concentration of fine particulate matter – a major air pollutant – increased by 3.4% in 2024 in Delhi when compared to 2023. And alarmingly, this has occurred despite a huge decrease (by 71.2%) in the counts of stubble fires during the winter of 2024. This clearly points to local and regional sources of pollution, including vehicular emissions, open burning of waste and dust from construction and other sectors, causing air pollution in the national capital, the report said. Increase in levels of fine particulate matter Analysts at CSE assessed annual and seasonal trends in the concentration of fine particulate matter (or PM2.5, particulate matter that is less than 2.5 microns in diameter and is a major air pollutant that is released from sources including construction dust, emissions from thermal power plants and vehicles) between October 1 and December 31 across seven years – 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 – using real time data from 37 air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR. The team found that in 2024, the annual concentration of PM2.5 increased to 104.7 µg/m3, up by 3.4% from 2023. This is more than twice the ideal levels prescribed by national standards. As per India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 2019, the concentration of PM2.5 should ideally be no more than 40 µg/m3 annually. Delhi’s PM2.5 levels, therefore, have increased after a decline and stabilisation that the city witnessed between 2018 and 2022. The spike in the levels of PM2.5 in Delhi “cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, in a press release on January 6. “Consistent rise indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region. Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past action. Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources have offset the gains – undermining the longer term progress over the past decade,” Roychowdhury said. The team also analysed fire count data sourced from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System. This revealed that farm fires – farmers setting fire to stubble after harvests in neighbouring areas including Punjab and Haryana – had declined drastically in 2024. In 2024, the total annual fire counts across Delhi, Punjab and Haryana numbered just 39,865, dropping from 63,721 in 2023 – a decline of 37.5%. Seasonal fires decreased in 2024 by an even larger margin. Between October and December, stubble fires dropped from 37,276 in 2023 to 10,712 in 2024 – a staggering 71.2% decrease. This means that the Union and Delhi governments cannot ascribe the rising pollution levels in the national capital to stubble burning anymore. article image ALSO READ Forest Cover Claims Mask Deeper Crisis: ISFR 2023 Reveals Large-Scale Forest Degradation View More “Delhi cannot hide behind the smoke screen of farm fires any more,” Roychowdhury said. “Despite a 71.2% drop in stubble fire incidents during October-December 2024, the winter pollution has remained elevated, upsetting the annual trend.” The government’s stand: 2024, a golden year for Delhi’s air Government statements, such as those made through press releases, however, paint a completely different picture. Just six days ago, a press release by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said that air quality in Delhi has improved, as is “evident” from the “record” 209 days during the year when Delhi’s Air Quality Index remained below 200. This, as per India’s categories of air quality is ‘good’ to ‘moderate’. But first, some background to put this in perspective. What’s important to note here is that India has rather lax standards on what counts as acceptable PM2.5 levels: good (0-30 µg/m3 for a 24-hour period), satisfactory (31-60 µg/m3), moderate (61-90 µg/m3), poor (91-120 µg/m3), very poor (121-250 µg/m3) and severe (more than 250 µg/m3). As per 2019 NAAQS, the concentration of PM2.5 should ideally be no more than 60 µg/m3 for a 24-hour period (and 40 µg/m3 annually). Contrast this to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) standard that is four times more stringent: it recommends that levels of PM2.5 should be no more than 15 µg/m3 for a 24-hour period (and 5 µg/m3 annually). Now, back to the recent press release by the MoEFCC: “Continual, concerted and persistent efforts of all the stakeholders round the year also in 2024 have further helped to improve the general air quality in Delhi as is evident from a record 209 days during 2024 with the AQI falling below 200 i.e. in “good – moderate” air quality category,” the press note read. The note focused on how 2024 was seemingly a golden year for air quality in the national capital. The months of February and December witnessed the “best ever average AQI” in the city since 2018; as did the August of 2024 (except for 2020, during COVID-19 when a lot of restrictions had ensured that pollution levels were low). The city witnessed the “best ever average AQI” for the months of February and December during 2024, since 2018; and the month of August, 2024, also recorded this best ever average AQI since 2018 (barring the year of 2020). The months of March and April in 2024 also witnessed the “second best daily average AQI” since 2018 (again, barring the same months in the year 2020). “Based on gradation of the average AQI, the year 2024 witnessed the best ever “good to moderate” and the least ever “poor to severe” AQI days (barring COVID affected 2020),” the press note said. The press note blamed low wind speed conditions, as well as “exceptionally prolonged dry spells” and high-speed winds that carried fine dust and particulate matter from adjoining areas, for the “poor” AQI in the months of January, April, May and June. But despite this, the average AQI for 2024 was the second-best since 2018, barring the year 2020, the note said. What the note misses entirely, however, is the fact that even several of the government’s air quality monitors maxed out at an AQI of 500 in the month of November last year. So much so that the Central Pollution Control Board had to admit in its daily AQI bulletin on November 18 that Delhi’s AQI clocked 494 as of 4 pm on the day, with fine particulate matter being the prominent pollutant. Meanwhile, other private air quality monitoring equipment including readings by the Swiss real-time air monitoring agency IQAIR clocked AQI figures of 1113 and higher on the same day, which counts as “hazardous” air quality levels as per the US AQI levels (these, however, are calculated differently). article image ALSO READ Does Air Pollution Cause Deaths? Government Says ‘Yes’, Government Says 'No' View More The latest CSE analysis published on January 6 confirms this. Between October 1 and December 31 last year, real time data from monitoring stations in Delhi revealed a staggering 26% increase in peak pollution levels (from 580 µg/m3 in 2023 to 732 µg/m3 in 2024) when compared to the same time period in 2023, the report said. Day-wise, the city-wide peak in 2024 occurred on November 18, when pollution levels rose to 602 µg/m3. The CSE report also noted that between October and December this year, the city witnessed 17 days of severe or worse air quality which also included two extended smog incidents (defined as three consecutive days of “severe” air quality) between November 13-20 and December 16-20. This further kept the average pollution levels high in the city during the winter. “The fact, that the annual trends have risen for two consecutive years despite the decline in farm fire incidents during winter, shows much deeper systemic changes are required to cut the round the year emissions from explosive traffic, industry, open burning of waste and biomass, construction activities, use of solid fuels for cooking, and dust sources in Delhi and the surrounding region,” the report noted.

Looking back to look ahead to 2025: Economy, climate, and politics

The year 2024 will mark the year when the world changed in more ways than one. Each day some part of the world was hit by extreme weather events; when a new record of heat or cold stress is made and then broken; when communities already living on the margins of survival are devastated to the point of being unable to recover from the frequent disasters. Scientists describe this as the “anthropocene epoch”, which in geological time is defined as the period when human activities have significant impacts on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. Everything that we have done for human progress — for increased well-being and wealth generation — has breached national as well as planetary boundaries. It is also the period of momentous change — in the way we behave with each other as human beings; in the global norms of what is right and what is wrong; and in the power of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which will drive virtually everything in the next few years. We have changed the “nature” of public discourse so that we can say what we feel, even if it is vile, hateful, and destructive. We believe this is the freedom of speech that protects our democracy. But in all this, we have put our faith in the business of new-age technology. Today’s big-tech companies are all-controlling empires — they make the multinational corporations of the past look puny — as their scale of influence transcends countries and touches our lives like never before. Think of the way we consume news; the way we shop; and the way each part of our lives, wherever we live, is infused and firmly integrated into these businesses. Today, their leaders are driving change, not just in technologies and in media, but also in politics. They seek influence and as governments weaken, they get stronger. Most governments are under the illusion that they are deciding policies and that these are still in the public interest. The fact is, governments have ceded that space to big consultancies, investment banks, and private businesses. The public space is now privatised. It is not that democracy is dead, but that it has been fundamentally modified by this nexus of business and the consuming classes — you and me. Today our world is more insecure and more anxious as each super-cycle of cataclysmic change is feeding the other. We live in an increasingly inequitable world where the rich have gotten richer and the poor poorer. This, combined with bad governance, climate change, and resource squeeze, is leading to more migration, as desperate people seek new opportunities. All these add fuel to the anger and insecurity, which then make democracy prey to hateful and polarised rhetoric in this age of big technology, controlled by new business leaders with superpowers. This anger is not confined to the poor in the world. The rich feel betrayed — or at least this is how they perceive it. When the world moved to stitch up economies in the 1990s, it was the poor that were most worried about the loss of jobs. Today, the situation has reversed. It is the workers in the already rich world that have been left out of the new economies. They are turning against what they call the “educated elite and the experts”, who have benefited from the service and financial economy of this interconnected world. The worst outcome of this class war is the rejection of ideas. People see knowledge as tainted and compromised, and feeding private interests — also an outcome of the way we have organised the world’s information and business systems. This, then, means that what is in the public interest, like climate change, is also viewed with suspicion and, now with the second coming of Donald Trump, with rejection. This is also where economy, climate change, and politics intersect. When the world moved towards interconnected economies it was believed that it would lead to a prosperous and safer world order; countries would not attack one another because they would be driven by the self-interest of cooperation. But the real reason for moving industry was to reduce the cost of labour and environmental safeguards. It was too expensive to manufacture if these costs had to be paid. This meant that production moved and so did emission. We know that from the carbon dioxide balance sheet of countries as China became the world’s manufacturer with others joining it. Today, as the world needs a green transition, it faces new realities. The production of all things green is still cheaper in the “other” world, China in particular. Mr Trump has promised a trade war to bring back business to his country. But this will add costs, financial and environmental, as the world is just too integrated and interconnected on its trade to disengage easily. It will also derail the momentum for a low-carbon economy as what is green is foreign-made and so must be shunned. This is why at the beginning of the epoch of climate change when the world moved into a different reality, we must plan for a different tomorrow. We cannot be prisoners of yesterday. We must be vanguards of a new dawn, a new promise, but with the reality of the mistakes of our era. Otherwise, we will squander away coming decades to nothingness — all into a vortex of spiralling climate-change impacts. This is what we must change. The writer is at the Centre for Science and Environment sunita@cseindia.org, X: @sunitanar

‘They’ll scratch your car, slash the tyres’: Why car owners fight over parking in Indian cities

Private tutor Dahlia Sen Joshi visits several houses daily in Vasant Kunj, an upscale neighbourhood in south Delhi, and relies on her trustworthy Renault Kiger, a small sport utility vehicle. But this comes with a nagging problem – finding a space to park her car. Vasant Kunj is mostly made up of gated compounds with multi-storey blocks of flats, but no designated space for residents to park their cars. They do so on internal roads and empty spaces – an informal “first-come-first-served” arrangement in a place where families often have more than one car. This makes it nearly impossible for visitors such as Mrs Sen Joshi, 50, to park their cars here. “The level of aggression of people has grown so much that if you park in their place, even for an hour, they’ll scratch your car, slash your tyres or smash your windows,” she told The Straits Times. Instead, she parks outside the compounds and walks several hundred metres to her students’ homes. It is a wise call in a city that has seen a spike in parking-related fights, a worrying trend that other big Indian cities have also witnessed in recent years. Rising private vehicle ownership, residential construction without the creation of adequate parking space and mismanagement of existing parking facilities have made parking in Indian cities a potential risk to one’s life and limb. Social media in India is replete with videos of Indians fighting over parking. In one of the most-watched clips from 2023, an elderly man wielding a stick in Delhi rains blows on another man in a parking dispute. In March 2024, a couple in Bengaluru were assaulted by a family for parking their car in an open space opposite the family’s house. And in Mumbai, India’s most densely populated city, even parking one’s two-wheelers can invite death. In December 2024, a 41-year-old man was beaten to death with iron rods after he parked his scooter in front of the assailant’s shop. Cities across the country have seen a surge in private vehicle ownership as public transport remains inadequate. As at March 2023, Delhi had 7.94 million vehicles, with 1,800 vehicles being added to the capital’s roads daily. “Delhi simply cannot sustain these many cars,” said Mr Shubham Srivastava, programme officer for sustainable mobility at Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based non-profit. “All these vehicles obviously need a parking space, and residents cannot park inside their own homes. So the cars are taking up scarce urban space, leading to fights.” It is common to find residents in Delhi barricading the space in front of their house on public streets – a spot that technically belongs to everyone – with flower pots or other objects to obstruct others from parking their vehicles there. Some even put up aggressive posters on their gates, threatening to deflate the tyres of cars parked outside their houses. According to the latest available data, the police in Delhi registered 7,328 calls reporting violent disputes over parking between Jan 1 and Oct 25, 2023, more than the total of such calls received in the previous two years. This problem of parking has become more acute in the last two decades as the populations of Delhi and other big cities have grown exponentially with people migrating from other parts of the country. In Delhi, the 2001 population was recorded at 13.85 million and is now estimated to be more than 20 million. This increase in population has led to a construction spree in the city that has unfolded with little foresight. Single-storey homes have been replaced with multi-storied flats on the same plot of land, each floor housing separate families that own at least a car or two each, with no parking space developed for additional cars. Mr Shiv Kumar Sharma, a 48-year-old finance professional, lived in one such congested neighbourhood of Delhi as a tenant, for over a decade. The first house did not have an allocated space for a tenant’s car, forcing him to park outside the gated compound on a public road. This proved unsafe as his small hatchback’s battery was stolen four times, a common occurrence, he said, with others as well. So when Mr Sharma bought a bigger car – a Toyota Camry – in 2021, he first changed his house to one that has parking earmarked for the tenant as well. “A safe parking spot was my main consideration when I was looking for my house,” he said. In 2011, Delhi made it mandatory for all new buildings with an area between 100 sq m and 1,000 sq m to have stilt parking, enabling cars to be parked on the ground floor, which is called first floor in Singapore. But Mr Atul Goyal, president of United Residents Joint Action of Delhi, a body that represents over 2,500 resident welfare associations in the city, said this rule is not fully enforced. It is time for “drastic action”, he told ST, including a rule that limits the number of vehicles per family in Delhi. The development of multi-level carparks in commercial areas has also been slow, and many existing ones are poorly maintained. Vehicle owners in Delhi mostly park their vehicles for free on roadsides and other public spots near their homes, encroaching space meant for pedestrians and other public uses. A 2018 proposal to charge residents who park on roadsides was removed because of public opposition. Ms Sonal Shah, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable and Equitable Cities, a not-for-profit that focuses on sustainable urban development, said there was “a big lack of political will to manage parking demand” in India. She suggested that cities begin “pricing of streets (including in residential areas) so that no one thinks that a public street is free to park on”. “We need to remove the idea from people’s minds that parking is free and that it is my birthright,” she told ST. Enforcement of parking rules, such as those that prevent encroachment of footpaths and other no-parking zones, is also very poor, she added, creating a culture where “parking is accommodated first and not pedestrian infrastructure and public transport infrastructure”. “Improving enforcement could really begin to change public behaviour as well, along with pricing,” added Ms Shah. Debarshi Dasgupta is The Straits Times’ India Correspondent, covering the country as well as other parts of South Asia for the paper.

Annual PM2.5 levels rose in 2024 for the second consecutive year, despite a drop in stubble burning

As a new year begins, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has released an assessment of annual trends in levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) in the air of Delhi in 2024 – and the findings are dark. The assessment shows “persistent and consistent rise for a second consecutive year since 2022”. The annual PM2.5 concentration has increased to 104.7 microgramme per cubic metre (µg/m³) in 2024 — a 3.4 per cent rise from 2023 levels. This is also more than twice the national ambient air quality standard of 40 µg/m³. The PM2.5 levels have increased after consistent decline and stabilisation between 2018 and 2022, says the CSE assessment. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE says: “This cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors. Consistent rise indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region. Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past action. Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources have offset the gains — undermining the longer term progress over the past decade.” She adds: “Delhi cannot hide behind the smoke screen of farm fires any more. Despite a 71.2 per cent drop in stubble fire incidents during the October-December 2024, the winter pollution has remained elevated, upsetting the annual trend.” “Real-time data from Delhi’s monitoring stations for the winter period (October 1-December 31) reveals a troubling 26 per cent surge in peak pollution levels compared to the previous year during the early phase of winter. The city has experienced 17 days of severe or worse air quality, alongside two extended smog episodes with average smog intensity of 371 µg/m³ and 324 µg/m³, respectively. This has kept the average levels elevated,” says Sharanjeet Kaur, programme officer with CSE’s Urban Lab. The methodology This is an assessment of annual and seasonal trends in PM2.5 concentrations for the period October 1 to December 31 for the seven years from 2018 till 2024. This analysis is based on the real time data available from the current working air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR. A huge volume of data points have been cleaned and data gaps have been addressed for this analysis, based on the USEPA method. It covers 37 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) spread across Delhi. Fire count data has been sourced from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, specifically the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) product. Key highlights Delhi’s air quality worsens in 2024 — annual PM2.5 levels shows an upward trend: Delhi’s annual PM2.5 levels have shown fluctuations over the years, with 2020 standing out as an exceptionally clean year due to the pandemic-induced lockdown that caused significant reductions in emissions. However, this improvement has not been sustained, and 2024 marks a concerning trend. In 2024, the city’s annual PM2.5 levels rose to 104.7 µg/m³, marking a 3.4 per cent increase compared to 2023 and standing at 2.6 times higher than the national annual standard of 40 µg/m³. While the 2024 average is still 9.6 per cent lower than the 2018 peak of 115.8 µg/m³, it is 3 per cent higher than the three-year average of 2021-2023, indicating a gradual reversal of earlier gains. Delhi’s winter air pollution stagnates, peak levels surge by 26 per cent in 2024: Delhi’s city-wide winter PM2.5 average for the October-December 2024 stood at 178.3 µg/m³, a level consistent with the average since large-scale monitoring began in 2018-19. This season’s average was 0.2 per cent lower than the 2019 winter average, but 4.6 per cent higher than the three-year winter average (2021-2023), based on data from 37 monitoring stations across the city. However, a troubling trend emerges in peak pollution levels. The citywide winter peak for 2024 soared to 732 µg/m³, marking a 26 per cent jump compared to last year’s peak of 580 µg/m³. The city-wide peak this year stood at 602 µg/m³, recorded on November 18, 2024. The worst station-level peak this season was 9 per cent lower than the highest ever recorded — at 806 µg/m³ during the 2018 winter. Two major smog episodes this winter: As is the global practice, at least three continuous days of severe AQI is considered a smog episode. During previous winters such episodes have been recorded lasting six-10 days. This winter, two major smog episodes were recorded from November 13-20 – about eight days, and from December 16-20 – about four days. The average daily intensity of this smog stood at 371 µg/m³ and 324 µg/m3, respectively. Trends in good and bad air days: In 2024, approximately 121 days met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, a trend similar to 2019, when the second-worst annual average was recorded at 109.1 µg/m³. However, there has been a noticeable decline in the number of good air quality days, dropping from 152 days in 2023 to 121 this year. Annually, while the number of “good” air quality days increased slightly from 25 in 2023 to 29 in 2024, this improvement was overshadowed by a marginal rise in the combined numbers of overall “very poor” or worse category days including “severe” and “severe-plus” categories, which climbed from 107 in 2023 to 111 days this year. During the winter months (October to December), there were five days of “satisfactory” air quality — up from three days recorded in the previous two years; but there were no “good” air quality days. Meanwhile, the number of days categorised as “poor” and “very poor” remained unchanged at 57, reflecting no progress in air quality during this critical period. Variations in pollution level among city’s stations remain significant: This winter, only eight out of 37 CAAQMS (stations) showed improvement in their seasonal averages compared to the last three years. The most notable improvements were observed at DTU and NSIT Dwarka, which recorded 26 per cent and 22 per cent lower seasonal averages, respectively, compared to the mean of the previous three winters. On the other hand, three stations — North Campus, Okhla Phase 2 and Jahangirpuri — showed no change in their seasonal averages. CRRI Mathura Road (22 per cent), Aya Nagar (17 per cent), Ashok Vihar and Vivek Vihar (each 15 per cent) and Pusa IMD (14 per cent) were the top five stations that recorded an increase in seasonal PM2.5 levels compared to previous winters. The seasonal averages ranged from 97 µg/m³ at DTU to 226 µg/m³ at Wazirpur, with Anand Vihar emerging as the second most polluted location in the city, recording a seasonal average of 224 µg/m³. Farm stubble fires this winter about half of last winter: Farm stubble burning is widely regarded as a major contributor to elevated PM2.5 levels during the early winter months. However, this year a noticeable improvement has been reported, with the number of fire incidents in Punjab and Haryana declining significantly compared to previous years. Says Kaur: “VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) data reveals a significant decline in fire counts across Punjab and Haryana during the critical October-December period in 2024 compared to 2023. The overall annual fire counts in three states (Delhi, Punjab and Haryana) have also shown a notable reduction.” In 2024, the total annual fire counts (Delhi, Punjab and Haryana) dropped from 63,721 in 2023 to 39,865, marking a decline of 37.5 per cent. The seasonal fire activity during October-December saw an even steeper reduction, from 37,276 in 2023 to 10,712 in 2024 — a remarkable 71.2 per cent decrease. Punjab, a significant contributor to fire events, recorded a substantial 75 per cent decline in fire counts during the October-December period, dropping from 33,737 in 2023 to 8,449 in 2024. This improvement is reflected in the annual figures as well, which fell by 45.3 per cent, from 54,956 in 2023 to 30,081 in 2024. Haryana demonstrated a 37 per cent reduction in fire incidents during the October-December period, with fire counts decreasing from 3,479 in 2023 to 2,189 in 2024; but the annual fire counts increased slightly from 8,576 in 2023 to 9,532 in 2024. However, there have been observations from different authorities that the area affected by burning could have been large. The takeaways CSE researchers point out that this 2024 round-up assessment of annual PM2.5 trends has come as a resounding warning about the heightened risk from rising air pollution levels and loss of air quality gains from past action. Delhi could have stabilised annual PM2.5 levels since 2018 (if the existing air quality monitors are considered) and could have even recorded a declining trend since 2013 (if the oldest five stations are considered) if it would have implemented the directives of the Supreme Court on energy transition in transport and industry sectors. Roychowdhury says that the action has to “move much beyond reactive emergency measures during winter. The fact that annual trends have risen for two consecutive years despite the decline in farm fire incidents during winter, shows much deeper systemic changes are required to cut the round-the-year emissions from a variety of sources in Delhi and the surrounding region”. It is now more important for Delhi to provide the details with respect to the scale of the problem in each sector, gaps in action, targets to be achieved in each sector along with the strategies, and the resources to be mobilised to enable implementation with a strong compliance framework, says the CSE assessment.

Delhi's Air Quality Concerns Resurface Amid Stubble Burning Decline

Delhi's PM2.5 levels continue to rise, marking a second straight year of worsening air quality despite a significant reduction in stubble burning incidents across the northern regions of India, according to new findings from the Centre for Science and Environment. The think tank's report reveals a 3.4 percent increase in Delhi's annual PM2.5 concentration for 2024, reaching 104.7 microgrammes per cubic metre—more than doubling the national ambient air quality standard. This indicates that regional and urban pollution sources have offset earlier environmental improvements. Experts urge action, as Delhi recorded two major smog episodes this winter, displaying the ongoing pollution challenges despite a noteworthy 71.2 percent drop in stubble fires. The troubling trend suggests the impact of local emissions from vehicles, industries, and open burning.

Delhi air quality worsens in 2024 despite decline in stubble burning: CSE report

The Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) has released a report on Delhi’s air quality, and the findings are alarming. Despite a reduction in stubble burning in neighbouring states, Delhi’s air pollution levels have risen for the second consecutive year in 2024. This trend, according to experts, reflects a deepening crisis and the need for more action. The report highlights a consistent increase in Delhi’s annual PM2.5 levels, a key air pollution indicator. In 2024, the PM2.5 concentration rose to 104.7 µg/m³, a 3.4% increase from 2023, the analysis report titled 2024: Delhi at risk of losing its long term air quality gains noted. This is over double the national safe standard of 40 µg/m³ and marks a reversal of improvements seen between 2018 and 2022. “This cannot be dismissed as a weather aberration,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. “The consistent rise points to growing pollution from local and regional sources like vehicles, industries, and construction dust.” Delhi’s winter air quality remains a concern Average PM2.5 levels from October to December 2024 were 178.3 µg/m³, a 4.6% increase compared to the 2021-2023 winter average. Peak pollution levels surged, with a city-wide high of 732 µg/m³—26% higher than the previous year. The city had 17 days of severe air quality and two smog episodes: one lasted eight days in November and the other four days in December, with average intensities of 371 µg/m³ and 324 µg/m³. Farm fires, historically significant to Delhi’s winter pollution, sharply declined in 2024. According to NASA data showed a 71.2% reduction in fire counts during October to December compared to the previous year. Punjab reported a 75% drop, while Haryana saw a 37% decrease. Despite this improvement, Delhi’s air quality gains were offset by emissions from other sources. “Delhi can no longer blame stubble burning for its winter pollution,” said Sharanjeet Kaur, Programme Officer with CSE’s Urban Lab. “Local emissions from vehicles, industries, and construction dust are now the primary culprits.” The analysis revealed troubling trends in "good" and "bad" air quality days. Delhi saw a slight increase in good air days annually—from 25 in 2023 to 29 in 2024—but no good air days in winter. Instead, very poor or severe air quality days rose from 107 in 2023 to 111 in 2024. The report noted stark differences in pollution levels across Delhi’s 37 air quality monitoring stations. While areas like DTU and NSIT Dwarka improved by up to 26%, others, like CRRI Mathura Road and Aya Nagar, saw increases of 22% and 17%. The seasonal averages ranged from 97 µg/m³ at DTU to 226 µg/m³ at Wazirpur, with Anand Vihar as one of the most polluted locations. CSE experts stressed the urgent need for systemic changes to address the city’s year-round pollution. They emphasized that reactive emergency measures during winter are insufficient. Comprehensive strategies are needed to target emissions from vehicles, industries, construction, open fires, and household solid fuels. “Annual pollution levels have risen despite a significant reduction in stubble burning, highlighting the need for deeper reforms,” said Roychowdhury. “Delhi must implement stronger measures to address action gaps and ensure compliance across all sectors.” The report calls for a detailed roadmap outlining the pollution problem scale in each sector, specific emissions reduction targets, and required resources. Without swift and coordinated action, Delhi risks losing its air quality gains from the past decade.

Delhi Pollution: लगातार दूसरे वर्ष बढ़ा दिल्ली में प्रदूषण, सीएसई की सालाना वायु गुणवत्ता रिपोर्ट में खुलासा

राष्ट्रीय राजधानी का औसत वायु प्रदूषण लगातार दूसरे साल बढ़ गया। वर्ष 2024 में वार्षिक पीएम 2.5 की सांद्रता बढ़कर 104.7 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति घन मीटर रही, जो 2023 के स्तर से 3.4% अधिक और राष्ट्रीय औसत से दोगुना है। वह भी तब, जबकि पंजाब, हरियाणा व दिल्ली में पराली जलाने की घटनाएं 37.5% कम हो गईं। थिंक टैंक सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की 2024 की रिपोर्ट में दिल्ली की हवा में पार्टिकुलेट मैटर 2.5 (पीएम 2.5) के स्तर के वार्षिक रुझानों के विश्लेषण में यह निराशाजनक खुलासा हुआ। हालांकि 2024 का औसत अब भी 2018 के शिखर 115.8 माइक्रोग्राम/घन मीटर से 9.6% कम है, लेकिन यह 2021-2023 के तीन साल के औसत से 3 फीसदी अधिक है। सीएसई की अनुसंधान कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी के मुताबिक, पीएम2.5 में वृद्धि बढ़ते प्रदूषण का प्रभाव है। इससे निपटने के लिए तत्काल रणनीति बनाने की जरूरत है। पंजाब में 75, हरियाणा में 37 फीसदी कम जली पराली सीएसई रिपोर्ट में राहत की खबर यह है कि पिछले वर्ष पराली जलाने की घटनाओं में पंजाब में 75 फीसदी और हरियाणा में 37 फीसदी की गिरावट दर्ज की गई।

दिल्ली में लगातार दूसरे साल पीएम2.5 के स्तर में वृद्धि : रिपोर्ट

नयी दिल्ली, छह जनवरी (भाषा) पंजाब, हरियाणा और राष्ट्रीय राजधानी में पराली जलाने की घटनाओं में 37 प्रतिशत की गिरावट के बावजूद, दिल्ली का वार्षिक पीएम 2.5 स्तर 2024 में लगातार दूसरे साल बढ़ा। एक नयी रिपोर्ट में यह दावा किया गया है। थिंक टैंक ‘सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट’ (सीएसई) की रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक दिल्ली की वार्षिक पीएम 2.5 सांद्रता 2024 में बढ़कर 104.7 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति क्यूबिक मीटर हो गई जो 2023 के स्तर से 3.4 प्रतिशत अधिक है। यह राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर वायु गुणवत्ता मानक 40 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति क्यूबिक मीटर से भी दोगुना है। इसमें कहा गया कि 2024 का औसत अभी भी 2018 में दर्ज सबसे अधिक 115.8 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति घन मीटर से 9.6 प्रतिशत कम है, लेकिन यह 2021-2023 के तीन साल के औसत से तीन प्रतिशत अधिक है, जो 2018 और 2022 के बीच मिली सफलता के निष्प्रभावी होने का संकेत देता है। रिपोर्ट में कहा गया कि दिल्ली, पंजाब और हरियाणा में 2024 में पराली जलाने की कुल वार्षिक घटनाओं में 37.5 प्रतिशत की गिरावट आई है। पराली जलाने के मामलों में पंजाब में 75 प्रतिशत और हरियाणा में 37 प्रतिशत की गिरावट दर्ज की गई। सीएसई में ‘रिसर्च एंड एडवोकेसी’ की कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉयचौधरी ने कहा कि पीएम 2.5 के स्तर में वृद्धि को मौसम संबंधी कारकों के कारण होने वाली वार्षिक असामान्यता के रूप में नहीं देखा जा सकता तथा इसमें लगातार वृद्धि क्षेत्र में बढ़ते प्रदूषण को दर्शाती है। उन्होंने कहा, ‘‘ऐसा प्रतीत होता है कि दिल्ली ने वायु गुणवत्ता में सुधार के लिए पूर्व में किये गए प्रयासों से मिली सफलता को निष्फल कर दिया है। वाहन, उद्योग, खुले में कूड़ा जलाना, ठोस ईंधन का उपयोग, निर्माण और धूल के स्रोतों सहित प्रदूषण के स्थानीय और क्षेत्रीय स्रोतों ने पिछले दशक में हुई दीर्घकालिक प्रगति को कमतर कर दिया है।’’ रॉयचौधरी ने कहा, ‘‘दिल्ली अब पराली जलाने की आड़ नहीं ले सकती। अक्टूबर-दिसंबर 2024 के दौरान पराली जलाने की घटनाओं में 71.2 प्रतिशत की गिरावट के बावजूद, सर्दियों में प्रदूषण उच्च स्तर पर बना हुआ है, जिससे वार्षिक प्रवृत्ति असंतुलित हो गई है।’’ सीएसई की शहरी प्रयोगशाला की कार्यक्रम अधिकारी शरणजीत कौर के अनुसार, सर्दियों की अवधि (1 अक्टूबर-31 दिसंबर) के लिए दिल्ली के निगरानी केंद्रों से प्राप्त वास्तविक समय के आंकड़ों से पता चलता है कि सर्दियों के शुरुआती चरण के दौरान पिछले वर्ष की तुलना में प्रदूषण के चरम स्तर में 26 प्रतिशत की चिंताजनक वृद्धि हुई है। उन्होंने कहा कि शहर में 17 दिन तक वायु गुणवत्ता गंभीर या अति गंभीर श्रेणी में दर्ज की गयी। साथ ही दो दिनों तक धुंध की स्थिति भी रही, जिसमें औसत धुंध क्रमशः 371 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति घन मीटर और 324 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति घन मीटर थी।

PM2.5 pollution up in Delhi for second year on trot: Report

Delhi's annual PM2.5 levels rose in 2024 for the second consecutive year, despite a 37 per cent drop in stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and the national capital, according to a new report. The report by think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said Delhi's annual PM2.5 concentration increased to 104.7 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2024 -- a 3.4 per cent rise from the 2023 levels. This is also more than twice the national ambient air quality standard of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre. While the 2024 average is still 9.6 per cent lower than the 2018 peak of 115.8 microgrammes per cubic metre, it is 3 per cent higher than the three-year average of 2021-2023, indicating a gradual reversal of earlier gains made between 2018 and 2022, it said. The report highlighted that the total annual fire counts (on account of stubble burning) dropped by 37.5 per cent in 2024 in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana. Punjab recorded a 75 per cent decline, and Haryana, a 37 per cent decline. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, said the rise in PM2.5 levels cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors and consistent rise indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region. "Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past action. Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources have offset the gains -- undermining the longer-term progress over the past decade. "Delhi cannot hide behind the smoke screen of farm fires anymore. Despite a 71.2 per cent drop in stubble fire incidents during the October-December 2024, the winter pollution has remained elevated, upsetting the annual trend," she said. According to Sharanjeet Kaur, programme officer with CSE's Urban Lab, real-time data from Delhi's monitoring stations for the winter period (October 1-December 31) reveals a troubling 26 per cent surge in peak pollution levels compared to the previous year during the early phase of winter. The city experienced 17 days of severe or worse air quality, alongside two extended smog episodes with average smog intensity of 371 microgrammes per cubic metre and 324 microgrammes per cubic metre, respectively. This has kept the average levels elevated, Kaur said. Delhi recorded two major smog episodes this winter: from November 13-20 (about eight days) and from December 16-20 (about four days). The average daily intensity of this smog stood at 371 microgrammes per cubic metre and 324 microgrammes per cubic metre, respectively. At least three continuous days of severe AQI is considered a smog episode.

A divided EU gives India a window to pitch for carbon tax relief

Differences within the European Union over the looming carbon border tax has given India an opportunity to pitch for some relief from its onerous requirements that are expected to hurt exports to one of the country’s largest trading partners. As the EU prepares to implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in 2026, internal disagreements from Poland, Germany, and France, besides other Eastern European countries, have surfaced. India plans to capitalize on these divisions to demand tweaks in the norms while raising the issue at the World Trade Organization’s 14th Ministerial Conference in March, two people aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity. "There has been a growing demand for tweaking the norms from some member states,” the first of the two people said. “Though we have been raising concerns about this right from the inception stage, we will push our demand at the WTO and other platforms. The norms are very anti-competitive." Besides, in the upcoming free-trade agreement (FTA) talks with the bloc, India will seek easier norms to protect the economic interests of local businesses, the two people said. The key demands include protecting the commercial confidentiality of exporters' data, especially for small businesses—or the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) —and easing CBAM's complex compliance requirements. Queries emailed to the commerce ministry remained unanswered till press time. CBAM's potential impact The CBAM, part of the European Green Deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, imposes a carbon price on imports of certain products from outside the bloc to prevent carbon leakage. That would impose financial and operational burden, increasing costs for industries in developing economies, especially in India. The mechanism is expected to impose an additional 25% tax on carbon-intensive goods exported from India to the EU, according to a July report by the Centre for Science and Environment. This tax burden could represent 0.05% of India's GDP. "If the CBAM comes into force in its current form and shape, it will result in higher costs," the first person quoted earlier said.

Would’ve been pleased with tributes in his own quiet way.’ Family, peers remember Manmohan Singh

It is no secret that towards the end of his tenure, when allegations of corruption buffeted the UPA government, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was a disheartened man. His words, while addressing a press conference in January 2014, that “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament” betrayed, in a sense, deep personal anguish. The outpouring of tributes, following his death on 26 December, 2024, have to a considerable degree validated the sentiment that he had then expressed, uncharacteristic for a man known for his fabled reticence. Singh’s family, also intensely private, seems to agree as well. On Saturday, addressing a small gathering held at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre to celebrate the former PM’s life and remarkable career, his daughter Daman Singh said he would have not just been astonished with the tributes, but “would have been pleased in his own quiet way”. Curated by Singh’s three daughters—Upinder, Daman and Amrit—and their children and spouses, the remembrance event, away from the glare of television cameras, was understated and warm, qualities that defined Singh as a person. “Never blow your own trumpet, he would tell us,” Upinder Singh, an accomplished historian, said in her brief speech. The dais was bare save a garlanded portrait of Singh, and a white screen in which the family exhibited a short film that had Singh’s colleagues and family friends—from Professor Jagdish Bhagwati to the late Isher Judge Ahluwalia—recounting their impressions of Singh as a person and a professional. Apart from Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur, family members and friends, those in attendance included his Cabinet colleagues P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal; members of his core team as PM including former NSA Shivshankar Menon, former deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran; former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed, Centre for Science and Environment chief Sunita Narain, lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bharti Enterprises chairperson Sunil Mittal and physician K. Srinath Reddy. Many including Professor Amartya Sen, Professor Bhagwati, Infosys chairperson emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy, British journalist Martin Wolf, historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee, human rights advocate Sanjoy Hazarika offered their tributes to Singh via video messages. If one were to distill the evening’s eulogies, apart from his towering contributions in public life as finance minister and the PM of two consecutive terms, what emerged were anecdotes that shed light on the personal and humane aspects that shaped Singh as a person. Recalling his love for shayari (poetry), Akhtar, who flew down from Mumbai for the memorial, said had Singh not been an economist or a politician, he would have been a poet. Akhtar also appeared to take an oblique jibe at the present dispensation, pointing out how Singh, derided as “Maun (silence) Mohan Singh” by his political detractors, actually addressed the press numerous times as the PM.

Delhi's year-long problem that’s growing: All major pollutants spiked in 2024

NEW DELHI: All major pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone, recorded an increase in their annual average in 2024 compared to the previous year, shows an analysis of data. Average annual PM2.5 concentrations, which gradually declined between 2017 and 2022, rose in 2023 to 101 micrograms per cubic metre. In 2024 it was 104 micrograms per cubic metre. The average annual PM2.5 levels in 2024 were 2.6 times the annual national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5 and 20.8 times the WHO's annual safe guideline. Last year, Nov was the most polluted month, with average PM2.5 level of 250 micrograms per cubic metre. The average ground-level ozone concentration rose to 34 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024 The annual average PM10 levels increased from 207 micrograms per cubic metre in 2023 to 211 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024. The concentration last year was 3.5 times the national standard and 14 times the WHO's safe limit. In 2024, Nov witnessed the highest PM10 concentration at 395 micrograms per cubic metre, followed by Jan at 329 micrograms per cubic metre. A similar trend was observed for NO2, as 2024 recorded the highest annual average in the past five years. Average annual NO2 increased to 43 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024, compared to 38 in 2020, 40 in 2021, 38 in 2022, and 34 micrograms per cubic metre in 2023. The national annual standard is 40 micrograms per cubic metre, and the WHO's annual guideline is 10 micrograms per cubic metre. The monthly average in Dec 2024 for NO2 was 63 micrograms per cubic metre. The average ground-level ozone concentration rose to 34 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024, as opposed to 27 micrograms per cubic metre in 2023. However, the NAAQS for an eight-hour average is 100 micrograms per cubic metre, and the WHO's guideline for the peak season is 60 micrograms per cubic metre. Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at the think tank Envirocatalysts, said year-round high levels of all major pollutants, including during the monsoon, are deeply concerning. "Not just because they exceed the NAAQS and the WHO guidelines, but also because there has been no significant reduction since 2017, the base year for the National Clean Air Programme, which aimed for a 40% reduction in particulate matter levels by 2026. A complete transformation in air pollution regulation and enforcement is urgently needed, focusing on absolute emission load reduction across all polluting sectors within Delhi-NCR and the broader air-shed," said Dahiya. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director for research and advocacy at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said air pollution is now a multi-pollutant crisis increasing the health risk. "The increase in the levels of gases is indicative of rising emissions from vehicles, industry, waste burning and other combustion sources. These gases are not only harmful in themselves but also contribute towards the formation of secondary particles in the air that can be 25% of PM2.5 concentration during winter. The clean air programme must target PM2.5, NO2, and ozone together, instead of only PM10 (that is coarse dust), to meet the clean air benchmarks," she said. Dipankar Saha, former head of Central Pollution Control Board's air laboratory, said the control of local area pollution is a long-term programme, thus immediate response may not be possible all the time. "It will take some time when the infrastructures for control of emissions from municipal waste, construction and other waste management and road management are in place," said Saha.

The Who's Who of Climate Activism: How Indians Are Leading the Wave of Change

Climate change is a global challenge that affects everyone and India is no exception. With the rising frequency and intensity of climate-related extreme weather events, developing countries like India are facing increasing pressures to focus on climate mitigation and adaptation. While the government plays a significant role in addressing these issues, climate activists across India have been instrumental in championing the cause and pushing for action. One of India’s earliest environmental movements, the Chipko Movement, set the stage for grassroots activism. In 1964, Gandhian activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt founded the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM) to promote small-scale rural industries using local resources. After severe floods in 1970 linked to industrial logging, DGSM raised concerns over large-scale logging. The first Chipko protest took place in 1973 in Mandal in modern-day Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh). Here, the villagers, led by Bhatt, hugged trees to stop logging after the government prioritised a sporting goods manufacturer over local needs. The Chipko Movement's success inspired a chain of similar protests and movements in the region. In 1974, women in Reni situated in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, led by Gaura Devi, confronted loggers and forced them to leave, ultimately leading to a 10-year logging ban on commercial logging in the area. Named after the Hindi word chipko (meaning “hug”), the movement was a non-violent protest against large-scale destruction of forests for commercial use. It not only protected local forests but also inspired a generation of environmental activism in India, emphasising on the importance of commercial logging in the area. Today, the legacy of such movements continues through the efforts of modern climate activists who work tirelessly to raise awareness on climate change and mobilise action to help mitigate and adapt to its consequences. From organising community-level initiatives to advocating for policy changes, these activists seek to advance India's sustainable future. Their work highlights the importance of preserving the environment so that future generations can inherit a healthier, more secure planet. Madhav Gadgil: A Tryst With Conservation Born on 24 May 1942, veteran Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil has dedicated his career to community-driven conservation. His groundbreaking work includes the creation of India’s first biosphere reserve, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, which is now the largest protected area in India. Gadgil’s research on the importance of preserving ecosystems for the benefit of marginalised communities has influenced key environmental policies. For his contributions, Gadgil has received global recognition, including the Champions of the Earth Award from the United Nations. Rajendra Singh: The Waterman of India Born on August 6, 1959, Rajendra Singh is a water conservationist and environmentalist from the Alwar district of Rajasthan. Dubbed as the "Waterman of India" for his contributions in the field of river rejuvenation, Rajendra Singh is credited for transforming the water landscape of Rajasthan through grassroots conservation efforts. His organisation, Tarun Bharat Sangh, has built over 14,000 water structures, reviving rivers and improving water security for thousands of villages. Singh’s work has earned him the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award and global recognition for his commitment to water ethics and sustainable development. Jadav Payeng: The Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng from Assam is famous for his extraordinary efforts aimed at greening the sandbar of the Brahmaputra river. In 1979, Payeng began planting trees on a barren sandbar in the Majuli Island, which has since transformed into the lush Molai forest spread over 1,300 acres. His dedication to combating erosion and enhancing biodiversity has earned him the title of the "Forest Man of India" Payeng was also awarded the Padma Shri in 2015. Sumaira Abdulali: The Sand Mafia Warrior Sumaira Abdulali, born in May 1961, is an environmentalist from Mumbai. Abdulali has been advocating against illegal sand mining and noise pollution. Founder of the Awaaz Foundation, Abdulali brought global attention to the environmental impacts of sand mining through campaigns and public interest litigations. Her work has resulted in the first court order against illegal sand mining in India. She has contributed significantly to implement noise pollution regulations rules notified by the Central Pollution Control Board in Mumbai. Medha Patkar: Representing the Marginalised Born in Mumbai on December 1, 1954, Medha Patkar is best known for leading the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a movement protesting the construction of large dams on the Narmada River. Her efforts have highlighted the environmental and social consequences of forced displacement due to largescale development projects. Patkar's commitment to protect the rights of marginalised communities has earned her the Right Livelihood Award. Marimuthu Yoganathan: Protector of Western Ghats Marimuthu Yoganathan from Tamil Nadu is a humble bus conductor for the state's transportation corporation. Dubbed as the "Tree Man of India", Yoganathan is known for his quiet revolution of reportedly planting more than 3,00,000 trees across various districts of Tamil Nadu. Yoganathan's sustained efforts towards environmental conservation have been lauded for representing the average citizen's passion for climate activism in India. Apart from the mega greening drive in his state, Yoganathan is also credited for raising voice against illegal logging and spreading awareness about conservation among the youth. Kinkri Devi: The Warrior of Sirmaur Kinkri Devi (1925–2007) from Himachal Pradesh became a symbol of resilience when she was raising her voice against the harmful effects of limestone quarrying in Sirmaur. In 1987, Devi started a public interest litigation and a 19-day-long hunger strike, which resulted in a ban on mining activities. Her tireless work earned her national recognition, including an invitation to the International Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995. Jamuna Tudu: The 'Lady Tarzan' Jamuna Tudu was born on December 19, 1980, in Mayurbhanj, Odisha. She was affectionately called the "Lady Tarzan" for her fierce commitment to protecting the forests of Jharkhand from illegal logging. Through the Van Suraksha Samiti, she rallied thousands of villagers to protect nearly 50 hectares of forest land. Tudu’s leadership has made her a beacon of hope for grassroots environmental activism, inspiring several others in her region to join the fight to protect forests. Archana Soreng: Indigenous Voices A member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, Archana Soreng is a member of Khadia Tribe in Odisha. Born in 1995 in Bihabandh village, Soreng is one of the leading representatives of indigenous communities in the country, batting for their inclusion in climate policy. Soreng has worked extensively on preserving traditional knowledge and raising awareness about the impacts of climate change on indigenous populations. Sunita Narain: Leading the Sustainable Agenda Born in 1961, Sunita Narain, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has played a pivotal role in shaping India's environmental policy, especially in the areas of air pollution, water management and industrial waste. Under Narain's leadership, CSE was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize in 2005. A veteran in climate activism, she has been instrumental in framing policies that balance economic development with ecological sustainability. Narain was also listed as one of the most influential people by the Time magazine in 2016. The work of these environmental champions highlights the power of community-led action in tackling climate change for a sustainable future. As India marches ahead towards its net-zero ambitions, such leadership initiatives along with a strong network of grassroots movements could serve as a beacon for hope for not just India but for the world.

Air pollution measures fail to address thermal power emissions

Air pollution in north India made headlines across the world when Air Quality Index (AQI) levels were recorded as over 1,500 a few weeks ago – unprecedented, experts said, even for a region that routinely ranks among the world’s most polluted. Though crop residue burning contributes to such seasonal peaks, there’s a steady combustion source that is many times more polluting: thermal power plants. Seasonal burning of the paddy crop residue coincides with lower temperatures and more stagnant winds, which causes a high level of pollutants to gather over the Indo Gangetic Plain over the winter. This curtain of smog is mostly made up of PM2.5 particles – very fine, toxic pollutants that are released on the combustion of fuels or burning of biomass. But pollution from thermal power plants is continuous, and responsible for a sizable pollution load annually. An analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found that thermal power plants emit 10 times more kilotonnes of PM2.5 compared to crop residue burning, and over 200 times more kilotonnes of sulfur dioxide, another harmful pollutant. In the National Capital Region alone, thermal power plants emit 16 times more sulphur dioxide compared to stubble burning. “Despite the significant health and environmental impact of coal-fired power plant emissions, regulatory enforcement on these power plants remains far less stringent compared to the seasonal restrictions and penalties imposed on stubble burning,” the analysis says. Curbing emissions from thermal power plants involves installing flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) systems, which filter sulphur dioxide – a precursor to PM2.5. Despite scientific consensus on the efficacy of FGD technologies, as well as existing mandates on their installation, the government has sent out mixed signals on the implementation of FGD. On November 19, the Ministry of Power sought an extension on the installment of FGD in thermal power plants. Also in November, the NITI Aayog, the government’s foremost think tank, suggested thermal power plants could do away with FGD technologies altogether. “The biggest problem is that there’s a lack of understanding among stakeholders when it comes to the importance and enforcement of FGD,” said Shreya Verma, Programme Manager of industrial pollution at the Centre for Science and Environment. “Casting doubts over the need for FGD indicates to industry that they can continue to be lax with compliance.” The first deadline for compliance with FGD is December 31, 2024, for power plants within a 10-kilometre radius of Delhi NCR. However, out of the four power plants that fall in this category, only one has fully complied, while another has partially complied, CREA’s analysis shows. India’s sulphur dioxide emissions are rising Coal fired power plants account for around 47 per cent of India’s total electricity generation capacity, but are the source for over 70 per cent of India’s power demand. Even though the government is making strides in establishing renewable energy capacity, coal continues to meet a bulk of the country’s electricity and power needs. As the world’s third largest producer of coal, India is also among the top emitters of sulphur dioxide. In 2022, India emitted 16 per cent of the world’s sulphur dioxide, making it the world’s largest emitter of this gas. Sulphur dioxide emissions from thermal power plants have grown since 2019, according to satellite images analysed by CREA. Between June 2022 and May 2023, thermal power plants released approximately 4,327 kilotonnes of sulphur dioxide. In Delhi-NCR alone, sulphur dioxide emissions from thermal power plants were found to be 281 kilotonnes. Over the same period, burning 8.9 million tonnes of paddy straw in Punjab and Haryana resulted in 26.7 kilotonnes of particulate matter (PM2.5) and 17.8 kilotonnes of sulphur dioxide. Emissions from thermal power plants are “over 10 times and 240 times higher” than emissions from stubble burning, the analysis says. “The challenge is not confined to centrally run power plants. FGD installation is lagging in private and state-operated power plants, and it’s these plants that have the maximum reduction potential,” said Manoj Kumar, an analyst at CREA and lead author of the paper. The highest concentrations of sulphur dioxide were found in central and eastern states, which house a large number of thermal power plants – the Mahanadi basin (covering Chhattisgarh and Odisha), around Biswanathpur (Odisha), and Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar (Uttar Pradesh). Installing FGD in thermal power plants can reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide from 4,327 kilotonnes to 1,547 kilotonnes, according to CREA. “This amounts to an overall reduction of approximately 64 per cent, highlighting the tremendous potential impact of FGD technology on reducing air pollution from coal-fired power plants,” says the analysis. Compliance has been lax The scientific evidence that FGD technologies reduce sulphur dioxide emissions is largely uncontested. Removing sulphur dioxide emissions can prevent the formation of secondary particles. Once sulphur dioxide is released, it can oxidise in the air to form sulphate aerosols, which form PM2.5. In 2022, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Central Electricity Authority found that FGD in 67 coal power plants could reduce surface sulphur dioxide concentrations by 55 per cent within a 60 to 80-kilometre radius, and reduce surface concentrations of sulfate aerosols by about 30 per cent, with reductions extending to 100 km from the emission source. Globally, India has indicated its support for technologies like FGD when it agreed to phase down unabated coal power (“unabated” refers to emissions without any reductions). But domestically, the installation of FGD technologies has been marred by delays in compliance and laxity in enforcement. Less than 1 per cent of funds in India’s clean air programmes are directed towards controlling emissions from thermal power plants and other industrial sources, for example. India introduced compliance norms for emissions from thermal power plants in 2015, first stipulating that all thermal power plants should install FGD and meet emission norms by December 2017. This deadline for FGD installation was then revised twice, on the instance of the Ministry of Power and Association of Power Producers, with staggered timelines introduced to facilitate installation. According to the latest notification, issued by the Ministry of Environment in 2022, power plants within a 10-kilometre radius of Delhi NCR or cities having a population of more than a million people are required to meet compliance norms by December 31, 2024. These are Category A plants. Category B plans, which are within a 10-kilometre radius of “critically polluted areas”, are required to comply by December 31, 2025, while the rest of the power plants in the country must comply by December 31, 2026. Missing these deadlines will make plants liable to pay Rs. 0.2 to Rs. 0.4 per unit of electricity generated, depending on the period of non-compliance. Installing FGD can take up to three years. Out of 600 thermal power plants, only 44 have installed FGD systems, while bids for installation have been awarded for another 233 units. In its letter on November 19, the Ministry of Power requested each category deadline be extended by 36 months, citing “major constraints” in timely compliance. “These constraints are primarily limited to limited domestic manufacturing capacity due to limited vendor base, dependence on imports, and a sudden growth in demand to meet the stipulated timelines,” says the letter, which Mongabay India has seen. Ashwini Chitnis, an energy specialist and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, says the reasons for seeking extensions have largely remained unchanged over the last ten years. “FGD is not a new technology. There’s a well-established global supply chain because installing it in the West and China is mandatory. We routinely import equipment for other aspects of the energy sector, such as say, for solar panels. More importantly, it is not as though any efforts are being made to install FGDs, and they are being delayed due to such constraints. So, repeatedly citing such vague reasons for missing deadlines is unacceptable”, she said.