• Director General Office

Water to water, not water to waste

Access to clean water, life is unhealthy and unbearable. Successive governments, both at the Centre and in states, have worked, over the years, to provide clean water to rural communities. But experience shows that even as water supply has “reached” villages, the number of villages that has again fallen into the “unreached” category has grown. This zero-sum game is because water supply is not only about building pipes but also about ensuring the sustainability of the source of the supply system. Meaning, even if water supply has “reached” the village, the built and delivered infrastructure breaks down if the source dries up or gets contaminated. The key challenge then is to ensure sustainability of the water supply system, particularly the source of water supply. The Government of India’s ambitious and much needed Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) recognises this fundamental flaw and stresses that its objective is sustainability so that water continues to flow through the pipes to the taps. In this way, JJM’s most important objective is to provide a “functional” tap in every home, and not just the provision of the tap. This requires focus on improving the durability of water assets—by ensuring that the pond or lake or tank is not encroached upon and that the watershed, so critical for the drainage to be secured, is not destroyed. This also requires source sustainability by ensuring that the water source—be it river, lake or well—is recharged and is not polluted either by the excreta dumped on the land or by wastewater from households that now have toilets and taps. The fact is, 80 per cent of the water supplied to households is discharged as wastewater. In rural households, sanitation programmes focus on building toilets which use minimal water. Most of the wastewater is in the form of greywater—defined as wastewater from all human uses like bathing, washing clothes and washing utensils, other than toilets—which is discharged into the open. This greywater creates pools of water and breeding grounds for vectors and other diseases and becomes another source of contamination for groundwater and surface water. This is why greywater management—to reuse that used water for cultivation or for recharging groundwater—is key to source sustainability. This is water to water, not water to waste. At the same time, water supply has to be linked to the system of sanitation and wastewater generation. We need to understand that when we pollute water, we waste it. The fact is, the toilet building programme is incomplete unless the wastewater—the faecal sludge that is contained in the receptacle of the single- or double-pit or unlined, linked or honey-comb individual toilet—is safely disposed of. This means the faecal sludge must be either treated within the toilet—in situ treatment—so that when it is emptied, the sludge can be reused as manure without polluting water or land. Or, there are systems to collect the faecal matter and to take it to treatment plants before it is reused on the land. We know that the faecal matter—what we excrete after eating food that takes the nitrogen and phosphorous from the soil—is full of nutrients. This matter must be put back on the land and not disposed of in waterways. But it must be done after treatment so that the waste does not add to our health burden. But the most important learning is that unless communities are involved, water supply programmes will remain dysfunctional and indeed broken. The problem lies in the fact that land and water bureaucracies are fractured—somebody owns the pond; another agency the drain; and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change. This means giving much greater control over the water structures to the local community—by deepening democracy and through devolution of powers—is then the answer to water management. This has to be the next game changer in our quest to supply clean water to all. This is even more important in today’s climate-risked world. In this decade we will see the revenge of nature. We need then to scale up our work to invest in water systems and to make them durable—not just to withstand another rain but another deluge. We need to speed up our work, because climate change will make sure that we have more rain but in fewer rainy days. This means doing much more to capture the rain, when and where it falls, so that the groundwater is recharged. Our water future is about our water wisdom and in this, we must recognise that water and culture go together. Water shortage is not about mere failure of rain. It is about the failure of society to live and share its water endowment. (The writer is Director General of CSE and editor of Down To Earth, an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindsets)

• Industrial Pollution

India is On a Renewables Spree But is Pushing for More Coal-based Power Plants. What’s Happening?

A report published on May 8 found that in 2023, India overtook Japan to become the world’s third largest solar power generator. Another recent report showed that in the first quarter of 2024, coal’s share of total power generation capacity in India dropped below 50% — for the first time since 1966. In 2024 alone, India has also issued at least 69 gigawatts (GW) worth of renewable energy tenders: far higher than the union government’s annual target of 50 GW. But as hope-instilling as India’s renewable energy push may be, there’s more to the picture. The country is commissioning new fossil fuel-based power plants, and especially so over the last couple of years — as several recent reports show. We’re also reviving stalled projects, and expanding existing ones. Understandably, India needs more coal for all these power plants, hence, the country’s coal production has increased over the last fiscal year, and so have coal imports. So what’s with these seemingly contradictory findings? Why is India pushing for more renewable energy, but also promoting coal-based power plants and increasing coal production and imports at the same time? Some scientists told The Wire that they wouldn’t worry much about the commissioning of new coal-based power plants because many of these plants stagnate at the commissioning or installation stages. But some others are not convinced: renewed action to promote new coal-based power plants can be detrimental for the country and its people because there are serious concerns of such plants turning out to be “stranded assets” — infrastructure that are inefficient, can no longer be used and become liabilities instead, they told The Wire. Moreover the “narrative” that India is short on power resources stems entirely from mismanagement of existing coal resources, they added. It will be crucial to take urgent steps to develop and implement methods to efficiently store renewable energy so that it becomes a reliable source of power to replace coal in future, experts said. These developments also come at a time when Science is making it increasingly clear that India cannot afford more coal-based power being installed, due to the impacts of both coal extraction and the burning of the fossil fuel on the environment (such as loss of biodiversity and increased air pollution) — and the impacts, in turn, on people’s health, as well as the rights and livelihoods of local communities. India is third-largest solar power generator First, the good news. India is on a solar power generation spree. In 2023, it overtook Japan to become the world’s third largest solar power generator, as per a report released on May 8 this year by global energy think tank Ember. India ranked ninth in solar power generation in 2015. This spurt in installing and generating renewable energy is in line with India’s international climate change mitigation pledges. As per our latest Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the United Nations, India aims to ensure that 50% of the country’s electricity generation will come from non-fossil fuel based sources by 2030. And more good news has been coming in. A recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found that in the first quarter of 2024, coal’s share of total power generation capacity in India dropped below 50% — a first since 1966. The report also showed that India issued at least 69 gigawatts (GW) worth of renewable energy tenders in 2024 alone. This overshoots the union government’s target of 50 GW of renewable energy to be commissioned every year, the report noted. …but we’re still pushing for coal-based power plants The Indian government, however, continues to push coal as its mainstay for power generation. And coal is crucial as it meets around three-quarters of all of India’s electricity demands. India is not only reviving stalled coal-based power plants and expanding existing ones, but also commissioning brand new fossil fuel-based power plants. The Indian power ministry told Reuters in February this year that the country will start operating new coal-fired power plants of a combined capacity of 13.9 gigawatts (GW) this year alone. This is the highest annual increase in at least six years. India plans to add at least 53.6 GW of coal-fired power capacity by March 2032; this is in addition to the existing plants of 26.4 GW currently being constructed, as per the Reuters report. For a few years, till the end of 2022, they saw a declining trend in new coal-based power plants coming online in the country, said Sunil Dahiya, researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). However, India is definitely moving away from this trajectory, Dahiya told The Wire. Expansions and revival of stalled coal-fired power plants continue, and have picked up pace in recent years. A report by the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and CREA and co-authored by Dahiya in August 2023 found that three non-captive coal plant expansions (amounting to 3.9 GW) received permits in the first five months of 2023 alone, up from zero the year before. It also found that seven other coal plant proposals (a total of 7.6 GW) also moved ahead with regards to their permits by receiving their terms of reference. Two new coal plants (2.9 GW) appeared under consideration for the first time in 2023 too. Private players are also hoping to cash in on this push for coal-based projects. Adani Power, JSW Group and Essar Power are among the companies that have told India’s power ministry that they would be keen to expand old plants or develop stalled projects facing financial stress, according to sources and a government presentation quoted by Reuters in a report in March this year. Commissioning new plants, expanding existing ones, and reviving stalled ones will continue to occur – and perhaps even increase – as per several of these news reports and studies. Coal production and imports at a high More coal-based power plants means that we need more coal to fuel them. India’s coal production continues to rise. As per latest data published by the Ministry of Coal, the country’s coal production reached 997.4 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2024. That’s a whopping 11.6% increase from the previous year (893.19 million tonnes). Of this, Coal India Ltd (CIL) alone produced 773.6 million tonnes. The government-run company also recorded an increase of 10% year-on-year of coal production. India’s coal imports have increased too. As of March 2024, India’s total coal import was 261 million tonnes, the highest in the last three years. And there’s fraud here as well, suggests an investigative report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published on May 22. The OCCRP obtained documents (later shared with the Financial Times) that suggest that at least 24 shipments of coal belonging to the Adani Group that arrived in Tamil Nadu between January and October 2014 were originally priced as low-quality coal (of less than 3,500 kilocalories/ kilogram, which was sourced from Indonesia). However, the Adani Group sold the same coal as high-quality coal (of higher calorific value, at around 6,000 kilocalories/ kilogram) to the state’s power company – the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation – for triple the cost, per the OCCRP report. Along with the huge loss to the public caused by the fraudulent deal (which meant that citizens bought electricity at far higher costs than they should have), the burning of low-quality coal is also known to be more polluting, and thus, more damaging to both the environment and human health. In March this year, the Ministry of Coal observed what they called a “notable increase” (a staggering 94.21% increase, actually) in coal imports by imported coal-based power plants from April 2023 to January 2024, when compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. The Ministry put it down to the huge drop in import prices of coal during the time. In April this year, the Ministry ordered all coal-based power plants fueled by imported coal to run at full capacity till October 15. So coal is here to stay — for some time at least. In an interview to MoneyControl in January this year, Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister for Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, said that the government will “continue increasing coal production even beyond 2030,” citing India’s huge surge in power demands, something that is also predicted for the coming years. “There is no question of any reduction in coal production after 2030. For the next 40 years at least, coal is going to stay (as a key energy source) in India,” Joshi told MoneyControl. India, while on its way to increasing its renewable energy power generation, is also not cutting back on coal mining and imports, or halting the commissioning of new coal-based power plants. Experts say that while it may look contradictory, both coal and renewables will have to go hand in hand for some time until issues such as storage of renewable power are addressed to ensure that renewable energy becomes as reliable as coal. However, commissioning new coal plants is just not the way to go, some added. ‘Issue is not power shortage but mismanagement’ According to Dahiya, the “narrative” — that we need more coal-based power plants and therefore more coal — is something that has been pushed forward by the Indian government citing surging energy demands especially during the summer when there is a huge demand for more electricity to power fans and other cooling systems such as air conditioners. The government has cited power shortages during such seasons to commission more coal-based power plants and even permit coal mines to hike production without a fresh environmental impact assessment or public consultation, as The Wire Science reported. “However our analysis showed that it was not a power shortage because of a limitation of power generation capability, but a management crisis because power plants did not stock up enough coal,” Dahiya told The Wire. And we don’t need any new coal-run power plants either, according to Dahiya. He pointed out that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its 2018-19 report had explicitly mentioned that India does not need any new coal-based power plants to come up apart from the ones which are already in different stages of the pipeline. However, officials doubled back on this stand, Dahiya said. The latest Electric Power Survey, National Electricity Plan as well as the report on Optimal Generation Mix, all recommended that India build more coal-based power plants. As per the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air-Global Energy Monitor (CREA-GEM) report in August 2023 that also analysed the five-year projections in India’s latest National Electricity Plan (NEP), “more than 8 GW of non-captive coal-fired power plant capacity in active construction is unnecessary, and all 34.9 GW of the pre-construction capacity is also not needed.” The story of stranded assets When it comes to reviving stalled projects, it makes sense to revive power plants that are new, and whose construction is almost over, Dahiya told The Wire. But there is a lot of wastage of public money where older, less efficient power plants are sold to new buyers for far lower costs than they were built with initially, he said. Such “stranded assets” – infrastructure that is inefficient, can no longer be used and becomes a liability instead – are a “waste of public money”, Dahiya said. “We are tracking numbers: this year alone around 2.7 GW of new coal-based power plants came into the permitting process,” he said. “So we are definitely seeing signs that coal is coming back strong in India after early signs of a declining trend before 2023. That puts us in danger of another wave of stranded assets down the line.” Per the GEM-CREA report, the National Electricity Policy (NEP 2023) shows that India’s coal power capacity that is currently under development exceeds estimated electricity requirements for both 2027 and 2032. Moreover, India’s coal resources are also high: mining capacity, as of 2 years ago, was 2.4 billion tonnes (this included mines which have already received environmental clearances and at various stages of development), Dahiya said. So if more mines are added, there’s a “very high likelihood” of a stranded asset wave sweeping across the coal mining sector as well, with India’s push to add more coal mines to its existing network to cater to power demands. “Ultimately…forests will be destroyed, and the traditional livelihoods of communities will be destroyed too,” Dahiya told The Wire. However, if we add 300 GW of renewable energy as we plan to over the next six years, that itself has the potential to meet the growth in power demands in the coming years, Dahiya said. “The biggest premise for this to happen is to install 50 GW of RE every year. If we do that systematically every year, our analysis says that by 2027, India’s coal consumption will peak and then start declining. But this might also not happen because we have seen that India makes sweet promises on installing RE but doesn’t meet those deadlines. That might lead to a delay in the peak of coal consumption.” Incidentally, India failed to achieve its target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of 2022. To worry or not? The announcements about building new coal-based power plants, however, is not something he would worry much about; mere announcements don’t mean actual commissioning, said Sandeep Pai, director of Swaniti Global. That’s because most of the announcements don’t actually mean that new coal-based power plants would be built, he told The Wire. Moreover, for the new coal-based power plants that are indeed being added to India’s kitty as per these reports, other older and more inefficient ones might be wound down, said Pai, who has studied several aspects pertaining to the coal industry, from its importance as a livelihood generator, to policy in the context of climate change and just transitions. If the new coal plants are more efficient due to better and improved technology they are better than the current older ones as they will be better for the environment, people and their rising needs. One factor that elevates coal as a crucial resource is its reliability: a stark contrast to the unpredictability of green energy. Solar power is available only during daylight hours; wind power generation is seasonal. Like wind power, hydropower (which is considered a clean and green energy source in India despite numerous impacts such as the displacement of people, arresting environmental flow of water and more) also varies across seasons due to changes in rainfall patterns. With increased impacts of climate change that often affect rainfall patterns, the unpredictability of hydroelectric power is only likely to get worse. Storage is key That’s why developing and implementing storage of renewable energy is crucial for India. And currently, there is no efficient provision to do so. India’s power demands are very high but the quantum required to shift demands from fossil fuels to renewable energy will take time. So till the time large-scale energy storage systems are deployed, coal capacity addition is happening — but this is a temporary phenomenon and soon these assets are at risk of being stranded, said Vibhuti Garg, director – South Asia, IEEFA. Developing batteries for storage — mostly lithium, but also sodium ions — is in the process, says Garg. And there has been some progress recently, Garg told The Wire. “The government is releasing FDRE tenders to develop storage for hydro and green energy.” In firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) power, energy storage systems help transform variable renewable energy into FDRE, which ensures that consumers receive power round-the-clock. It appears that FDRE systems may be deployed in less than a year, Garg added, the government is also encouraging domestic manufacturing of batteries. Garg, however, is clear that India has to stop commissioning new coal-based power plants. “This is something we should ideally not be doing at all,” she told The Wire. In fact, a 2021 study is categorical about this: there is no economic case either for new coal plants in India, it noted. “By 2025, the cost of electricity from renewables with storage will be comparable to the domestic social costs of the cheapest new coal plants,” it said. As per the study, “Indian policymakers should start preparing now for this eventuality, especially with policies to re-employ and compensate workers in coal and related sectors who will have to find new employment.” Investing in modernising the grid, and investing in battery and other storage options to further renewable energy and its storage and use, will be more beneficial than investing in coal projects, according to Dahiya. “Renewable energy plus storage is definitely the way forward… If we manage our already existing coal and gas resources well, if we install renewable energy at a pace that is required, and modernise the grid so that electricity can be transferred from one place to another, we can meet all our projected energy demands.” The one thing limiting renewable energy right now, Dahiya said, is the cost of storage. “But if we include all the costs of coal — the social costs, environmental costs, health costs, livelihood costs — the cost of coal is too high. Public health has definitely got a back seat when it comes in competition with coal.” Why this matters: Health, environment, rights Science has shown — and continues to show — that coal-based power plants, while contributing to India’s carbon emissions, also have a big impact on citizens’ health. A November 2023 report by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that coal-based thermal power plants contribute around 8% of particulate matter (PM) to the air in the Delhi-NCR region. Particulate matter is a major air pollutant that is released when fossil fuels are burnt. These carbon particles (ranging between 2.5 and 10 mm in diameter) can lodge in peoples’ lungs causing varying health conditions and diseases — including cancers, respiratory illnesses and more. Just as the current government has come under fire for diluting environmental norms and weakening existing legislations pertaining to forest protection in recent times, there also arise numerous questions regarding dilutions in environmental policies and norms around the running of thermal power plants too, delays in the implementation of norms and inability on the government’s part to ensure compliance. For instance, as per the CSE report, of the 11 thermal power plants in the Delhi-NCR region, three exceed particulate matter norms mandated by the government. Four of the 11 plants — three in Haryana, one in Punjab — exceed nitrogen oxide emission norms. Nitrogen oxide is another air pollutant that also causes respiratory illnesses. Sulphur dioxide is another pollutant that power plants emit. However, as per the CSE report, only two of the 11 plants in the NCR region have sulphur dioxide control measures in place, and only one meets existing emission standards for this pollutant. “[Sulphur dioxide] is a reactive gas and converts to sulphates in the form of fine particulate matter — PM2.5 — which poses even a greater risk to health and environment,” said D. D. Basu, former director of the Central Pollution Control Board, in the CSE press release. “Therefore, control of SO2 [sulphur dioxide] is crucial from the perspective of controlling particulate matter emissions.” As per the report, while the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced strict emission norms for coal-based power plants in December 2015 which were to be complied within two years, these have been diluted for several parameters. The deadlines have been repeatedly extended in 2017, 2019 and 2021. As per the latest deadlines, different categories of power plants (categorised based on their polluting levels) need meet sulphur dioxide emission norms only by December 2024, 2025 and 2026. The lack of crucial data pertaining to power plant emissions that has to be placed in the public domain is another concern: per the CSE report, https://www.cseindia.org/environmental-status-of-coal-based-thermal-power-plants-in-the-national-captial-region-11966, five of the 11 plants have a “poor status” when it comes to this. The process of coal extraction too comes at huge prices to the environment, peoples’ health and indigenous rights as well. Apart from the ecological concerns of biodiversity loss and the degradation of natural systems that coal mining causes, pollution goes hand-in-hand with coal extraction. Studies such as this one from the Talcher coal mines of Odisha show that coal mining pollutes both surface and underground water resources in the area. Jharkhand’s coal mines, meanwhile, are symbolic of the social, cultural and livelihood losses that indigenous communities face due to the loss of forests that they depend on for both sustenance and livelihood.

• Industrial Pollution

How companies are tweaking ESG disclosures selectively

The Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures as mandated by SEBI is still in the nascent stage in India but an assessment of the last three years' submissions by corporates found that companies are tweaking them on their own. As part of its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), Tata Power added a new parameter of freshwater consumption in the table while reporting on water withdrawal by source while GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals reported only the total volume of water withdrawal from different sources and deleted the row asking total water consumption. An analysis of BRSR reports of 14 different companies (randomly picked) from 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2033-23 by the Centre for Science Environment (CSE) found that companies have often provided data selectively, as per their understanding, and added or deleted rows of information as per their convenience. In the case of Tata Power, instead of providing information on total water consumption which the BRSR format asks for, it has introduced a new parameter called total freshwater consumption. “The volume of freshwater consumed forms only a small part of total water consumption; therefore, the water intensity calculated by the company (litre/rupee) is incorrect,” noted the report. What does it mean? The BRSR disclosures by companies may not provide a clear picture of the ESG and they are not at fault completely. There is some ambiguity in the BRSR reporting framework that needs a tweak by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), found the CSE report that focused on data provided by companies about Principle 6 – Environmental Stewardship. A review of the disclosure format shows that while it is easy to compare financial data or governance structures across different companies, comparison of environmental data throws up practical problems. Calling for a sector-specific approach in the BRSR framework, the report pointed: “A company may have different sectors having different pollution loads; another may have some air polluting units or a few units which pollute water sources, or both; a company also may have units sourcing energy from dirty fuels as well as those sourcing energy from renewables. In such scenarios, comparison between companies is futile; comparisons can be made only among companies from the same sector.” The BRSR framework should allow industries with different business activities to report according to their businesses. This will facilitate comparison and will help bring clarity to the environmental stewardship of a company as a whole. Report Findings Consolidated company data is not always useful. An average value that takes into account both good and bad units does not represent the sustainability of a company, says the CSE assessment. “Instead, sustainability can be judged if poor or average performing units are identified and a roadmap is prepared for them to improve their performance on various indicators. In the existing format, SEBI has not focused on unit-wise information from companies, except in case of unit-wise data related to water withdrawal, consumption and discharge,” it noted. According to the assessment, the current BRSR format makes it difficult to understand the reasons behind the increase or decrease in values of the parameters. “Take the case of JSW Energy, the information shows that its sourcing of energy from non-renewables has dipped from 157,320 GJ in 2020-21 to 126,000 GJ in 2021-22 – but the company does not provide any reasons for this reduction. Similarly, in the case of water consumption, Bharat Forge Limited, JSW Energy Limited, Orient Cement, Tata Chemicals and Tata Power report that they have increased their water consumption between 2020-21 and 2022-23 – without clarifying why this increase happened,” it noted. Energy intensity is a critical parameter in view of India’s commitment to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25% over the 2005 levels by 2050. “SEBI should clarify how energy intensity values can be used to assess the performance of a company and its contribution in achieving this national target – especially as companies are expected to report on GHG emissions intensity separately under the BRSR format,” it recommended.

• Industrial Pollution

SEBI Prods Companies To Report On Their ‘Green’ Performance

The Centre For Science And Environment (CSE) analyses data reported by 14 top companies – and recommends, among other things, reporting of sector-specific instead of generic data. Indian companies, nudged by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), have started reporting on their environmental and sustainability performance, but their submissions lack details and relevant information – finds a survey and assessment done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In May 2021, SEBI, in a welcome move, launched an initiative called ‘Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR)’. Under it, the Board wanted the top 1,000 listed companies in India – identified based on their worth in the stock market -- to disclose their non-financial data from 2021 to 2023, including data on “environmental stewardship”. SEBI’s BRSR framework asks for this data for two financial years: the current and the previous. CSE has reviewed 28 reports submitted by 14 of these top companies. Its assessment, titled ‘Strengthening Environmental Reporting under BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting)’, is largely focused on data provided by the companies about their actions and records on environmental stewardship. Says Nivit Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution, CSE: “We have reviewed the reports for two consecutive years -- 2021-22 and 2022-23 -- and also analysed the data for three consecutive years: 2020-21 to 2022-23. The primary aim behind our assessment has been to find out how the format can be strengthened to get quality data out in the public domain, which can then be used by policymakers and investors for more informed decision-making.” Shobhit Srivastava, deputy programme manager, industrial pollution, CSE adds: “The criteria for selection of the 14 companies was to have as much diversity as possible in terms of the sector. The selection is random as well, and is based on the availability of reports.” The problem lies, says CSE, in the way the BRSR format and questionnaire have been designed, and the kind of questions that have been asked of the companies -- it leaves room for the submission of information that is incomplete, thus defeating the purpose behind the entire exercise: that of creating a reporting structure for Indian companies that would help investors make rational decisions. What ails the existing reporting guidelines? Consolidated company data vs unit-specific data: “Consolidated company data is not always useful,” says Srivastava. An average value which takes into account both good and bad units cannot represent the sustainability of a company, says the CSE assessment. Instead, sustainability can be judged effectively if poor or average-performing units are identified and a roadmap is prepared for them to improve their performance on various indicators. Data without the rationale behind it: The current BRSR format makes it difficult to understand the reasons behind the increase or decrease in values and numbers of the parameters. Companies tweaking the questionnaire: Companies have often provided data selectively, as per their understanding, and added or deleted rows of information at their convenience. It should not be left to them to decide how they wish to present the data. Some important indicators are categorised as ‘voluntary’, not ‘mandatory: Some key indicators such as water withdrawal, consumption and discharge have been placed under ‘Leadership Indicators’, where companies can share information voluntarily. These can be moved to the ‘Essential Indicators’ category, which lists mandatory data points that need to be provided mandatorily. Says Yadav: “The BRSR questionnaire has some problems. For example, the format does not seek information on the type of fuels used by a company, the sources of renewable and non-renewable energy, or how is the undischarged treated water being used. In the case of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes generated by a company, information on waste-wise management and disposal is critical – but the questionnaire does not ask for it.”

• Climate Change and Green Economy

Uttarakhand Forest Fires will Blow Out with the Season. Its Economic, Ecological Consequences will Last

Ahead of World Environment Day—June 5—the news is grim. Forest fires are raging across large swathes of forest land across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. Things got worse last month with a pall of smoke lying heavy over the hills. However, it is the fires in Uttarakhand that have hogged the headlines. This is partly because the Supreme Court has excoriated the Uttarakhand government for its lackadaisical attitude towards firefighting and images of Indian Air Force using helicopter buckets (popularly called Bambi Buckets) to douse fires in Nainital district were flashed nationally. The state has a forest area of 38,000 square kilometres, according to a 2019 Forest Survey of India report. Since November last year there have been 1,000-plus forest fires in Uttarakhand. November to June is considered to be the forest fire season in India. Six people have lost their lives, thousands of hectares of forests have been burnt to the ground, the loss of flora and fauna is still to be counted. Thousands and thousands of litres of water have been poured in an attempt to douse the flames, according to media reports. The losses do not include the long-term effects on soil nutrient and the environment. Tourism, a big money churner, is also hit. The state government has already spent close to Rs 20 lakh and counting on controlling the forest fires. As per the Annual Report 2023-24 of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change the ongoing four-year National Collaborative Scheme on Forest Fire Management Rs. 22.31 crore has been allotted for a period of four years starting 2022–23 of which only Rs. 3.81 crore has been released so far. A 2018 World Bank report states that one in four people in India are dependent on forests for their source of livelihood and even conservative estimates around financial losses due to forest fires each year stood at Rs.1,100 crore. Hills are on Fire Forest fires in Uttarakhand are an annual affair. But their intensity and frequency over the years have increased. In a paper titled Forest Fires and Climate Attributes Interact in Central Himalayas: An Overview and Assessment, published in March 2023, researchers Usha Mina, A.P. Dimri and Sandhya Farswan say that incidents of forest fires have increased from 922 in 2002 to 1,165 in 2017, 4,714 in 2018 and 41,600 in 2019. “Extended periods of warm temperatures, changing monsoon patterns including a lack of pre-monsoon rainfall and drought-like conditions increase the availability of dry fuel. This helps forest fires to spread rapidly and worsen their impact,” says Tamanna Sengupta, programme officer, climate change, Centre for Science and Environment. Forest fires are both natural and man-made. Uttarakhand has been reeling under unnatural high temperatures over the past few weeks. Also, scanty rain and snow last winter made the soil dry. Add needles from the thousands of chir pine to this incinerator and you have a furnace ready to be lit. Lightning, grazers deliberately lighting a fire to encourage new grass, slash and burn method of agriculture, burning of trash and sheer carelessness (such as throwing a cigarette stub or not putting out a campfire) can lead to raging fires. Then there are criminals who want to hide illegal logging and jerks who will do anything to make reels (last month Uttarakhand Police arrested three youths who set a forest on fire to create reels). Necessary Cover These annual fires deplete Uttarakhand’s forest cover. Forests play an important economic role by generating revenues of their own and impacting other sectors including agriculture, energy, tourism and health. The economic returns over and above its contribution to environment make systematic investment to increase forest cover valuable. Globally, we rank third in net gain in average annual forest area between 2010 and 2020. According to a media report from 2019, Uttarakhand earned about Rs 350 crore in profits from its forests. The contribution of the forestry sector to gross value added stood at 1.48% between 2011 and 2016, states Strengthening Forest Fire Management in India a 2018 report jointly prepared by the environment ministry and the World Bank. Most of the value added by the forest sector came from industrial timber followed by firewood. However, this estimate does not account entirely for the value that forests add as goods and services provided by forests in India are not bought and sold in the formal economy. India’s rural poor are most dependent on forests as cash and subsistence income from forest goods account for a greater part of income of the poorest households. It has been widely reported that pine needles have added fuel to recent episodes of forest fires in Uttarakhand. The state’s forest department is trying to generate some revenue from the needles. Last month Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand’s chief minister, launched the Rs 50-crore Pirul Lao, Paisa Pao campaign in Rudraprayag district. The project urges people to collect pine needles from the forest floor and sell them at Rs 50 a kilogramme. Pine needles have commercial value for packaging fruits and when mixed with cow dung acts as fertilizer. Pine needles can also be used to generate electricity. However, bio-energy projects set up by Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency has admitted that it has been “unsuccessful” in this across the six plants set up in the state. The attempt has failed largely because appropriate technology is not available.

• Down To Earth

While temperatures hit close to 50o Celsius, Indian parties say little about climate change

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – India’s elections are taking place amid a stifling heat wave. Over the last few weeks, the country’s media have frequently reported on the inconveniences caused by the great heat. Today, at least nine people died in the Indian state of Rajasthan from an apparent heatstroke. Yesterday, the temperature reached 48.8o Celsius in the city of Barmer, while in the Indian capital of New Delhi, voters are called to cast their ballot tomorrow with the temperature expected to reach 45o Celsius. Several events were cancelled due to the unbearable heat and many attributed the low turnout in the first phase (out of seven till June) to the scorching heat, which discouraged people from leaving their homes. Yet, climate change continues to be largely absent from political debates. April and May have always been the hottest months in India, but climate change in recent years has worsened the situation, causing more extensive, frequent, and intense heat waves. According to a report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a research organisation based in New Delhi, India experienced extreme weather for about 90 per cent of the time in 2023. Last year, monsoons killed 523 people, the highest number ever recorded, causing US$ 2.5 billion in damage. Roxy Mathew Koll, a climatologist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, explained that “floods have increased threefold since the 1950s and cyclones have increased by 50 per cent since the 1980s.” Only in 2019 did the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), refer to climate change in their election posters. In this election cycle, the parties have presented plans to improve India's climate resilience, but in a very general way and without ever focusing on them during election rallies. According to a 2022 survey, between 1999 and 2019, only 0.3 per cent of all parliamentary questions were about the climate crisis. Yet for many Indians, the climate emergency is very important. In a survey two years ago, 81 per cent of respondents said they were "very concerned" about climate change. Issues related to religion, caste and occupation still shape voting behaviour of most Indians, Koll noted, but climate does play an important role when "the entire community is affected". About 25,000 voters in Ennore, a neighbourhood in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal, initially planned to boycott the elections in part because they got no government support after Cyclone Michaung devastated the eastern coast of southern India in December. The boycott was later called off after the local government said it would address the issue following the vote. “The politics of climate change in India is just not labelled neatly as 'climate change' but it does not mean that climate change is not shaping Indian politics," said Aditya Valiathan Pillai, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative, an independent climate change research organisation. Most policies focus primarily on coping with the consequences of climate change rather than on the climate emergency itself, he explained. In Sikkim, where elections to Parliament and the state assembly are being held concurrently, former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has vowed to suspend construction of large hydropower projects after a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) last year swept away a dam and thousands of homes and infrastructure, killing a hundred people. After the tragedy, environmentalists pointed out that the local government had been repeatedly warned about the risks of expanding the hydroelectric network. Other local initiatives in individual Indian states in recent years have proven effective (in Telangana, for example, roofs are painted white and new heatwave wards have been created in hospitals), but these measures have limited effectiveness when implemented on a small scale.

• Industrial Pollution

CSE finds gaps in India's corporate green reporting, suggests reforms

India's top-listed companies are reporting their environmental and sustainability performance as mandated by SEBI. However, a new assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that these submissions lack critical details and relevant information. In May 2021, SEBI launched the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) initiative, requiring the top 1,000 listed companies to disclose non-financial data, including "environmental stewardship," from 2021 to 2023. CSE reviewed 28 reports from 14 of these companies for the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23. ADVERTISEMENT In May 2021, SEBI launched the ‘Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR)’ initiative, requiring the top 1,000 listed companies in India to disclose their non-financial data, including "environmental stewardship,” from 2021 to 2023. The BRSR framework mandates the disclosure of data for both the current and the previous financial year. CSE reviewed 28 reports from 14 top companies for their assessment, titled "Strengthening Environmental Reporting under BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting)," which focuses on the companies' environmental actions and records. ADVERTISEMENT Nivit Yadav, Programme Director of Industrial Pollution at CSE, stated, “We reviewed the reports for two consecutive years—2021-22 and 2022-23—and analyzed the data for three consecutive years: 2020-21 to 2022-23. We have aimed to strengthen the format to ensure quality data is available for use by policymakers and investors.” Shobhit Srivastava, Deputy Programme Manager of Industrial Pollution at CSE, added, “We selected the 14 companies based on sector diversity and report availability. The selection was random to ensure broad representation.” ADVERTISEMENT According to CSE, the problem lies in the BRSR format and questionnaire design, which allows incomplete information submissions. This undermines the initiative's purpose: creating a robust reporting structure for Indian companies to aid investors' decisions. Key shortcomings identified Consolidated company data vs unit-specific data: Averages that combine good and poor-performing units fail to represent a company's true sustainability performance. Lack of rationale: The current format makes it difficult to understand reasons behind reported parameter value changes. Companies tweaking questionnaires: Some selectively provided, added, or deleted data to present information as per their convenience. Critical indicators like water withdrawal, consumption, and discharge are listed as 'voluntary' rather than 'mandatory.' CSE Recommendations Adopt a sector-specific approach, similar to international frameworks, to aid analysis and comparison. Update the BRSR guidance document to clarify reporting requirements for parameters like air emissions. Include CSE-suggested table formats for consistent data capture from companies. Mandate separate accounting for non-hazardous and hazardous waste, including management and disposal details. Require companies to report specific energy consumption (SEC) and specific water consumption (SWC) per unit of product to reflect overall efficiency. Nivit Yadav, Programme Director at CSE, emphasized the importance of transparent environmental data sharing for investors' decision-making in the era of climate change and resource scarcity. CSE hopes SEBI will consider its recommendations in the next review of the BRSR format and guidance note to strengthen corporate environmental reporting in India.

• Industrial Pollution

SEBI prods companies to report on their ‘green’ performance; CSE says the move commendable, but needs more teeth

Indian companies, nudged by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), have started reporting on their environmental and sustainability performance, but their submissions lack details and relevant information – finds a survey and assessment done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In May 2021, SEBI, in a welcome move, had launched an initiative called ‘Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR)’. Under it, the Board wanted the top 1,000 listed companies in India – identified based on their worth in the stock market — to disclose their non-financial data from 2021 to 2023, including data on “environmental stewardship”. SEBI’s BRSR framework asks for this data for two financial years: the current and the previous. CSE has reviewed 28 reports submitted by 14 of these top companies. Its assessment, titled ‘Strengthening Environmental Reporting under BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting)’, is largely focused on data provided by the companies pertaining to their actions and records on environmental stewardship. Says Nivit Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution, CSE: “We have reviewed the reports for two consecutive years — 2021-22 and 2022-23 — and also analysed the data for three consecutive years: 2020-21 to 2022-23. The primary aim behind our assessment has been to find out how the format can be strengthened to get quality data out in the public domain, which can then be used by policymakers and investors for more informed decision-making.” Shobhit Srivastava, deputy programme manager, industrial pollution, CSE adds: “The criteria for selection of the 14 companies was to have as much diversity as possible in terms of the sector. The selection is random as well, and is based on the availability of reports.” The problem lies, says CSE, in the way the BRSR format and questionnaire has been designed, and the kind of questions that have been asked of the companies — it leaves room for submission of information which is incomplete, thus defeating the purpose behind the entire exercise: that of creating a reporting structure for Indian companies that would help investors make rational decisions. What ails the existing reporting guidelines? Consolidated company data vs unit-specific data: “Consolidated company data is not always useful,” says Srivastava. An average value which takes into account both good and bad units cannot represent the sustainability of a company, says the CSE assessment. Instead, sustainability can be judged effectively if poor or average performing units are identified and a roadmap is prepared for them to improve their performance on various indicators. Data without the rationale behind it: The current BRSR format makes it difficult to understand the reasons behind increase or decrease in values and numbers of the parameters. Companies tweaking the questionnaire: Companies have often provided data selectively, as per their understanding, and added or deleted rows of information as per their convenience. It should not be left to them to decide how they wish to present the data. Some important indicators categorised as ‘voluntary’, not ‘mandatory: Some key indicators such as water withdrawal, consumption and discharge have been placed under ‘Leadership Indicators’, where companies can share information voluntarily. These can be moved to the ‘Essential Indicators’ category, which lists mandatory data points that need to be provided mandatorily. Says Yadav: “The BRSR questionnaire has some problems. For example the format does not seek information on the type of fuels used by a company, or the sources of renewable and non-renewable energy, or how is the undischarged treated water being used. In the case of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes generated by a company, information on waste-wise management and disposal is critical – but the questionnaire does not ask for it.” What CSE recommends Opt for a sector-specific approach: The existing disclosure format conceived by SEBI is generic in nature and does not contain sector-specific guidelines. CSE’s assessment indicates that a sector-specific approach – similar to ones followed by international frameworks — might be more useful for analysis and comparison while reporting. Since BRSR is aimed at helping investors finance environmentally responsible companies, a sector-specific format would help them gain an easy, holistic and comprehensive understanding when they prepare to invest in a specific sector. Update the BRSR guidance document: The BRSR questionnaire and format were reviewed in July 2023, but the guidance document has not been updated alongside. There are certain parameters in which the document has not given sufficient clarifications on the information to be provided. A case in point is that of questions that have been asked on air emissions – the guidance document does not offer any directions on how companies should report the data in the format provided. Include table formats (as suggested by CSE) to enable data capture: Companies have often provided data as per their understanding, and added or deleted rows as per their convenience. It should not be left to companies to decide how they wish to present the data. A proper format with specific tables will help in extracting the required information. For this purpose, SEBI can publish the BRSR questionnaire as a protected spreadsheet with the provision of including the responses from industries, but with no option of editing the format. Non-hazardous and hazardous wastes should be accounted for separately: Though SEBI has asked for data on generation of different types of waste, when it comes to management and disposal mechanisms, the only information that has been asked for is whether waste is recycled, reused or disposed of. SEBI should also seek information on waste generation and disposal in the top three waste streams under both hazardous and non-hazardous categories. There should be a separate section as well on plastic waste, e-waste, biomedical waste and other types of waste that do not result from manufacturing operations. Mandate specific energy and water consumption data: The BRSR format carries an optional parameter on energy and water intensity – it is up to the company to report on it. CSE recommends that companies should be asked to give specific energy consumption (SEC) data in kilowatt (kw) or megawatt (mw)/tonne of the product; and specific water consumption (SWC) figures in cubic metre (m3)/tonne of the product. This data will clearly reflect the overall energy and water efficiency of the manufacturing process of a company. To make things easier for SEBI, says Srivastava, the CSE assessment has provided table formats and templates for different parameters to facilitate more clarity on the data that must be provided by the companies. Yadav points out: “The BRSR framework is the first attempt by any regulatory authority or agency in India to mandate the sharing of such detailed environmental performance and compliance data in the public domain – sharing of such data in a transparent manner should be one of the key drivers in decision-making by investors in today’s era of climate change where resource availability is becoming a serious issue.” “However, we see a lot of scope for improvement in the BRSR framework – our aim is to help strengthen it for ensuring better quality reporting by the companies. SEBI conducts periodic reviews of the BRSR format and guidance note. Whenever SEBI reviews it next, we are hoping it will consider CSE’s recommendations which can help collect more meaningful information and data from the companies, which can be beneficial for investors during decision-making,” Yadav adds.

• Down To Earth

Weather: लू के दिनों में चार गुना इजाफा, 23 राज्यों पर भीषण गर्मी का कहर; पहाड़ी राज्यों पर भी अब असर

Weather: रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, साल 2022 में शुरुआती लू की आशंका 30 गुना अधिक थी। यह साल पांचवां सबसे गर्म रहा, जबकि 2023 अब तक का सबसे गर्म साल रहा है। 2015 से 2024 के बीच देश में अत्यधिक गर्मी प्रभावित राज्यों की संख्या 17 से बढ़कर 23 पहुंच गई है। धरती के बढ़ते ताप की वजह से देश में बीते 10 साल में लू प्रभावित राज्यों की संख्या में 35 फीसदी का इजाफा हुआ है और इनकी संख्या 23 हो गई है, जबकि गर्म लहरों के दिनों में राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर औसतन चार गुना की बढ़ोतरी हुई है। यह जानकारी भारतीय मौसम विभाग (आईएमडी), राष्ट्रीय आपदा प्रबंधन प्राधिकरण (एनडीएमए) और राष्ट्रीय रोग नियंत्रण केंद्र (एनसीडीसी) की संयुक्त रिपोर्ट में सामने आई है। रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, साल 2022 में शुरुआती लू की आशंका 30 गुना अधिक थी। यह साल पांचवां सबसे गर्म रहा, जबकि 2023 अब तक का सबसे गर्म साल रहा है। 2015 से 2024 के बीच देश में अत्यधिक गर्मी प्रभावित राज्यों की संख्या 17 से बढ़कर 23 पहुंच गई है। राज्यों की इस सूची में अरुणाचल प्रदेश, तमिलनाडु, केरल, हिमाचल प्रदेश, जम्मू-कश्मीर और उत्तराखंड का नाम शामिल हुआ है, जहां मैदानी राज्यों की तरह भीषण गर्मी और गर्म हवाओं के चलते जनजीवन काफी प्रभावित हो रहा है। रिपोर्ट में साफ तौर पर कहा है कि गर्मी का यह ट्रेंड जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभावों को साबित करता है। 2014 से पहले तमिलनाडु और केरल जैसे तटीय और हिमाचल व अरुणाचल प्रदेश जैसे पहाड़ी राज्यों में गर्म लहरें यानी लू का असर नहीं था, लेकिन पिछले कुछ वर्षों में खासतौर पर कोरोना महामारी के बाद 2021 से 2023 के बीच काफी तेजी से मौसम में बदलाव आया है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) ने हाल ही में बताया कि 2023 में 329 दिन लू का असर रहा जो 2022 में 203 दिन था। वहीं, 2014 से 2023 के बीच राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर औसतन लू प्रभावित दिनों की संख्या 7.4 से बढ़कर 32.2 दिन तक पहुंच गई है।

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Missing from AAP, BJP and Congress discussion — Delhi’s pollution crisis

Every fall when a brown haze engulfs Delhi, lasting all through winter, the hazardous levels of air pollution take centre stage in politics. This key issue, however, is glaringly absent from the Lok Sabha poll pitches of the AAP, BJP and Congress. This even as study after study shows the impact of Delhi’s toxic air on the lives of its residents. The World Air Quality Report, prepared by IQAir, said Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023 — its air quality had worsened last year when compared to 2022. But the public health problem is not Delhi’s alone as multiple states, especially neighbouring Haryana and Punjab, contribute to the pollution load. In the BJP and Congress manifestos, the only specific mention of air pollution is a reference to the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Both manifestos, however, refer to renewable energy — the Congress manifesto includes a promise to provide clean cooking fuel at affordable prices, while the BJP one includes a mention of electric buses and “ethanol and bio-fuel promotion”. NCAP was launched by the Union government in January 2019, with a target of reducing PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels by 20% to 30% by 2024, compared to 2017 levels, and achieving national ambient air quality standards by 2025-26. BJP: The section in its manifesto on ‘improving air quality’ states: “We have initiated the NCAP framework, aimed at reducing air pollution across 131 cities. Further, we will ensure NCAP effectively achieves and maintains the designated annual average ambient air quality standards in all regions of the nation, especially achieving National Air Quality Standards in 60 Cities by 2029.” When Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his first campaign rally in Delhi Saturday, he made one reference to the environment — “to deal with environment-related problems, the Indian government took an important step… (it) is giving e-buses to big cities, including Delhi, both for convenience of Delhi’s people and to protect the environment”. The issue does not seem to be a priority of the party’s candidates and is largely missing from poll campaigns. On Tuesday, it found a mention in Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s address in Northeast Delhi. He said, “If you continue to live in Delhi, your life will be cut short by 10 years… In five years, all buses will be electric… and Delhi will be free from pollution.” Congress: The party’s manifesto also referred to NCAP. “We will strengthen the National Clean Air Programme in order to urgently tackle the problem of air pollution,” it says. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh did talk about the “pollution problem” while addressing the media last week, focusing on the Centre’s inability to address the issue. “In the election in Delhi, environment holds a special place… air pollution is at such dangerous levels… compare it to other major cities worldwide and you will find Delhi is in first or second place. Where Delhi is situated, its administrative system places the responsibility primarily on the Union government. If the Union government does not fulfil this responsibility, then Delhi’s environmental problems can’t be resolved just by the Delhi government,’’ he said. AAP: Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has not brought up air pollution in his speeches over the past week. Kejriwal’s ‘10 guarantees’ also did not include it. As for candidates, videos of speeches made at ‘jan sabhas’ over the past week, up on their social media feeds, have no mention of air pollution. Experts who have researched the causes and implications of rising air pollution, particularly in Delhi, however, see even the mere mention of air pollution in manifestos as a positive sign. “It means they know it’s not something they can ignore. This is a change from the past where we never even saw a mention,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “Where the conversation now needs to go is from promise to action.” Dipankar Saha, former head of the Central Pollution Control Board’s air laboratory, said though governments have policies and action plans, “quantitative information on the extent to which emissions have changed over the years remains missing”. “(Like) an election is seasonal… air pollution is only seen as a winter phenomenon”.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Smothered by smog: Struggle of vegetable vendors in Delhi’s Keshopur Mandi

Halfway through our interview, vegetable vendor Rekha asked me point blank, “Isse kya hoga,” and at that moment, I could not think of an answer. She was right and had every reason to be hopeless. Much has been written about air pollution and much energy has been spent on expert committees and political debates and yet nothing has changed. “Hum toh garib log hai, hum kisko jakar bole, hamari sunvai nahin hoti” (We are poor people, to whom do we go, nobody listens to us),” says Rekha Devi, who sells vegetables in the Keshopur Mandi. Keshopur is a large retail and wholesale vegetable and fruit market located in West Delhi. It is close to the Keshopur Industrial Area, Outer Ring Road and the Najafgarh Drain, where garbage is often burnt. All these factors combined with other local pollutants, add to the extremely poor air quality of this area. Pollution in Keshopur cannot be measured, as the area does not have an AQI monitoring station. However, nearby pollution recorded by the nearby AQI stations are indicative of the situation here. Mundka and Punjabi Bagh record pollution in the “severe” category. The average PM 2.5 is 431, and PM 10 is 372. PM 2.5 and PM 10 measure the amount of particulate matter in air of the size of 2.5 and 10 micrometres respectively. Such dangerous levels of fine particles cause irreversible damage to lungs, irritation in eyes and increase chances of asthma. Livelihood or health: Vegetable vendors’ dillema “Hamare paas koi chara nahin hai’,’ (We have no other option) says Rekha when asked if she has ever skipped coming to the Mandi on days of extremely poor smog. Rekha, like many other fruit and vegetable sellers in the area, has no choice but to come here to sell every day, even in these hazardous conditions. Daily wagers do not have the luxury of working from their homes, like more fortunate ones who stay indoors when the pollution levels are alarming. The vendors do not use protective masks either. Rekha said she almost never wears a mask. Most of the vegetable sellers in the Mandi were also without a mask, because of the inability to buy masks every week and the lack of awareness. Rekha pitches her stall at around 2:00 pm in the afternoon and stays there till 1:00 am in the morning. These long hours in the open have led to irritation in her eyes and persistent coughing. Late nights in the winter also require people to burn wood to keep themselves warm, producing a lot of smoke. The vendors stand for hours in the unbreathable air. The Energy Policy Institute concluded that the people of Delhi are likely to lose 11.9 years of their lives, if the current levels of pollution continue. Unaffordable health care and vegetable vendors Kishan Lal, who sells grapes in the Mandi, said he has had chronic coughing for the past year. The doctor at the dispensary says that it is due to pollution. He took medicines for a few months but then stopped because he didn’t have any insurance. He cannot afford to take bed rest on days his cough gets uncontrollable. He says, “Garib aadmi ka to kya hai, roz kamana, roz khana.” Rekha says, “Hamein bachhon ka bhi dekhna hai, rent pe rehti hu, vo bhi har mahine bharna hota hai. (We have to look after our kids’ education. I live in a rented house. I have to pay the rent each month). People, who were interviewed, did not have any serious medical problems due to prolonged exposure to air pollution. However, they worried about how their lives would be, if they were diagnosed with such a disease. They do not have any savings and are completely dependent on government-funded dispensaries for their healthcare. Shrinking livelihoods, worsening pollution The irony is that while the sellers continue to stay put on days of bad smog, the buyers do not come. Moreover, business has also dwindled after the pandemic, as people have switched to e-commerce services for grocery and vegetable shopping. Another trend, which the vegetable sellers speak about, is people not going inside the main market area. They prefer to buy things from the nearby hawkers without stepping out of their cars. This shows how socio-economic status of people determines their response to pollution. Although everyone is affected by air pollution and has the right to clean air, the ability to cope and stand up against the system varies from person to person. Increasingly, Rekha and many others in the community feel helpless. The right to have clean air is an ideal that every citizen of Delhi wants, but when it comes to air pollution, it often does not garner the same attention as other hot-button political issues. And when measures are put in place, they have had only short-term impact. For example, the Winter Action Plan of the Delhi Government aimed to deploy hundreds of dust-collecting and spraying machines to control particulate matter. However, as Rekha rightly points out, these dust machines have often caused pollution in the area by impeding traffic flow. Government response to pollution Parvesh Verma, MP for West Delhi, has repeatedly attacked the AAP government in Punjab and Delhi for not doing enough to control pollution. He also has questioned the central government on under-staffing in state pollution control boards. Delhi’s pollution has figured in the promises of political leaders in the upcoming elections too. Health emergency such as this requires urgent policy redressal from the government. It begins with understanding that different areas in Delhi have different sources and causes of pollution and require different strategies. The Principal Secretary (Environment and Forest), Department of Environment, Government of Delhi has been reached out for a comment on this story but we did not receive a reply. Recommended measures to control pollution A 2021 analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment showed that vehicles are the biggest contributor to particulate pollution among the local sources in Delhi. Congestion pricing on the Outer Ring Road at peak hours in the morning and evening would discourage people from using personal cars. The Delhi government should regulate unauthorised industries, install smoke filters and accelerate the transition from traditional to clean energy in all approved industrial areas of Delhi. Pollution in a mixed land use suburb like Keshopur comes largely from factors outside of the area. The government needs to ban outside burning and provide N-95 masks to the vegetable sellers. But it also needs to address the problem of dust and PM2.5 pollutants within the area. Lastly, the Keshopur Sabzi Mandi Committee should serve as the platform for the demands of these vegetable sellers to have a better working environment. It should adopt dust mitigation practices for the large Sabzi Mandi built on unpaved ground. It can become an example of civic-led action to secure progress for an entire community. The author is a member of the cohort of the Civic Journalism Training Programme, jointly hosted by Oorvani Foundation and Youth ki Awaaz. This article was produced under the programme.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Rich Or Poor, All At Mercy Of City’s Bad Air

New Delhi: The family of Dhruv Kapoor, an executive in a private company, dreads winter when Delhi’s air turns toxic. “My seven-year-old son, Mivaan, has an adenoids problem, which aggravates during the winter season due to pollution. He is dependent on antibiotics on days when the city’s air quality is poor,” said the 36-year-old resident of Sukhdev Vihar in southeast Delhi. Kapoor himself has chronic sinusitis and the condition is exacerbated by exposure to the city’s pollutant-laden air. “During winters, when Delhi’s air is consistently noxious, the only days I feel better are when I travel out of the city for professional engagements. However, my health suffers when I return home,” said Kapoor. “Smoke from a nearby waste-to-energy plant entering our home adds to the problem.” His parents, both senior citizens, are confined to their homes during the winter months with the air purifier.In a slum in Yamuna Khadar, domestic worker Anjali has breathing problems when she steps out to work on days of high pollution. Lata, a housewife who lives in Nand Nagri in northeast Delhi, complains of headache and skin problems due to pollution. Rich Or Poor, All At Mercy Of City’s Bad Air Rich Or Poor, All At Mercy Of City’s Bad Air New Delhi was placed first in the list of the ‘most polluted capital city’ in the world in 2023. Delhiites breathed air that was contaminated around 20 times beyond the international safe standard, according to the World Air Quality Report 2023 released in March. Another report on Air Quality Life Index released in Aug last year by Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago revealed that air pollution was shortening lives in Delhi by 11.9 years. Delhi, it added, was the most polluted city on the globe.An analysis of Central Pollution Control Board’s data of the past decade shows that Delhi’s annual PM2.5 and PM10 levels continue to remain much higher than the national ambient air quality standards and WHO’s safe limit for pollutants. And while the city has seen a gradual but consistent decline in the annual PM2.5 levels since 2015-17, this trend was interrupted last year, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment in Jan this year. Sunil Dahiya, South Asia analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said, “Apart from 2020 when we saw cleaner air due to Covid-induced lockdown, Delhi has been recording high levels of pollution for over a decade. PM10 and PM2.5 levels of the past decade shows that pollution is either getting worse or it is staying where it was, irrespective of the ruling party in Delhi and the Centre.” Dahiya added, “Major polluting sources are transport, industries, power generation and there’s an increased contribution from the construction sector. But these sectors are dragging their feet in implementing measures to control air pollution at source. The govts, both state and central, have failed to control air pollution at source. Reduction in particulate matter is achievable by killing the pollution at source.”Bhavreen Kandhari, founder of Warrior Moms, a group of mothers fighting against the toxic air in Indian cities, said her group had received over 2,60,000 calls in the past six weeks from parents demanding clean air, 1,64,000 from Delhi alone. “It’s not that citizens aren’t concerned; they are disillusioned and disappointed,” said Kandhari. “A study determined that air pollution causes 3,000 premature deaths in Delhi annually, or eight deaths daily. Another study revealed that one in every three children in Delhi had reduced lung function and a high propensity for increased pulmonary haemorrhage.” Dahiya said pollution has to be an election issue. “And it is pertinent to discuss air pollution at length at the regional and national level after the formation of a new govt, irrespective of the political party,” he added. Kandhari too said parents were confronting the Lok Sabha candidates on cleaning the city’s air. “They are demanding to know what corrective action they will take, once elected, to protect children and other vulnerable individuals from harmful and illegal levels of air pollution,” she said. “This issue extends beyond Delhi, as 83 of the world's 100 most polluted cities are in India.” Warrior Moms, which analysed the manifestoes of all parties, demanded that instead of making promises, manifestos should provide a green report card detailing the actions the parties had taken to protect the environment. Is anyone listening?

• Sustainable Habitat

Increasing troubles of urban heatwave

Some scientific evidence suggests that with rising temperatures, a situation called 'Seasonal Affective Disorder' occurs. This causes rapid changes in the neurotransmitters found in people's brain. These changes motivate people to take suicidal steps like suicide. In 2018, researchers at the American University of Stanford identified a strong link between hot weather and rising suicide rates. Led by Stanford economist Marshall Work The study claimed that the projected temperature increase by 2050 could lead to an additional twenty-one thousand suicides in the United States and Mexico. Examples of how heat, heat and humidity have become deadly are visible in cities across the world. Cities in India have been seen as hubs of better infrastructure, excellent public facilities and employment opportunities. People living there expect a good lifestyle. But now cities themselves are becoming a problem for the world. population burden These cities, groaning and facing terrible pollution in the name of facilities, are becoming the center of dilemma instead of convenience for the people living in them due to severe pressure on infrastructure, inflation and increasing distance of residence from places of work. Here in the last few years a new problem has surrounded him. The problem is that there is more heat in cities than in villages. Scientists have called this problem 'urban heat'. It is also being called an urban heat wave. This urban heatwave was noticed in 2018, when 'US Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sciences' had published a report on rising temperatures in forty-four cities of the world. In that research report, focusing on the urban heat occurring in six metropolitan cities of South Asia, it was told that between the years 1979 and 2005, the city of Kolkata, which used to experience severe heat waves for sixteen days every year, now has such days. The number has increased to forty-four. Research have claimed that the risk of facing urban heat wave has increased by four times in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata with a population of crores. It has a warning also given that now the cities will have to learn to live with this 'urban heat' and bear its constant threat. Here, 'Centre for Science and Environment' has revealed this problem in a detailed report in its magazine 'Down to Earth'. In this, the question has been raised how much heat can humans bear in the greenery-less cities turning into concrete jungles. The question is also that what is there in big cities or metros that produces many times more heat than the naturally occurring heat waves?Has been. The serious side of this is that urban heat waves can show its effect not only in May-June but also in severe winters. A research paper titled 'Urban Heat Island over Delhi Punches Holes in Widespread Fog in the Indo-Gangetic Plains' was published in the 'Geophysical Research Letters Journal' of the 'American Geophysical Union'. It was said that in 2018, the country's capital Delhi had the least impact of natural fog as compared to the last seventeen years because the pollution and heat generated here had created holes in the fog. Not just Delhi, cities across the world saw a drastic reduction in fog density in winter due to urban pollution. IIT, Mumbai and 'University of Petroleum and Energy Studies' based in Dehradun, after analyzing seventeen years of satellite data of 'NASA', called the process of fog clearance as 'Fog Hole' and reported that in January, 2018 in Delhi there were ninety There were more fag holes than. Researchers had said that the heat of cities is burning the fog, due to which the temperature in cities is four to five times higher than in rural areas.Degree becomes higher. It was said that due to the rapid construction work going on in the cities, increasing urbanization, rapid decline in the green belt and structures being made of concrete, the heat inside the ground gets trapped in the surface or near the surface. Today's truth is that urbanization taking place in view of the needs of about 12-15 crore population of twenty-three cities of the country including Delhi-Mumbai, has turned the cities into such 'heat' and 'gas chambers', which cause extremes of weather. Are being made. Why have these cities become like this?There are some obvious reasons. Like, building large numbers of tall buildings in less space and indiscriminate use of electricity to keep them cool, bright and clean. Be it home or office, making them air-conditioned to fight the weather and increasing use of cars etc. for commuting. If millions of air conditioners and refrigerators (AC-fridges) are running in a city at the same time, and millions of cars running on petrol and diesel are releasing heat into the atmosphere along with greenhouse smoke, then there is no possibility of artificially generated air in the cities.The destructive potential of this heat wave can be estimated. (The author is an educational columnist)

• DTE - Web

Does this help or hurt a fair global green transition?

If climate considerations are to permeate trade agreements & vice versa, upholding principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, special & differential treatment is crucial The world is in a race to build a low-carbon economy. In mid-2022, the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the United States passed a domestic bill — the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — that would see the government invest about $370 billion across a decade in renewable energy, energy efficiency and electric vehicles (EV). Separately, in December 2022, the European Union agreed on a preliminary deal for an EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on imported goods such as iron and steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen. In the EU’s words, this would “incentivise our trading partners to decarbonise their manufacturing industry”. On the face of it, these measures seem like proactive climate-friendly legislation by big polluters. However, the IRA’s bottomless green subsidies and the CBAM’s green tariff wall have sparked fears of trade protectionism, as governments on the pretext of climate action try to reshore green industries and dominate the global supply chain of goods and technologies essential to avert a climate catastrophe. An overarching consideration that includes but is not limited to CBAM or IRA as policy tools, is whether trade is a domain through which countries must enforce greater climate ambition. For example, last month, US Climate Envoy John Podesta announced a new Climate and Trade Task Force to address “carbon leakage, carbon dumping, and embodied carbon in general”. The US signals intent to work with trade partners to develop standard methods to measure emissions, lower costs of clean technologies and help developing countries secure capital needed to decarbonise industry. A HISTORY OF DISTRUST Historically, developed countries have sought to merge trade and environment considerations, arguing that “the multilateral trading system and the environmental regime are mutually supportive”. Critics have argued that this approach seeks legal grounds to impose trade restrictions on developing countries on the grounds of environmental concerns. Thus, even if the restrictions do not significantly address environmental problems – or carbon emissions – developing countries would find it difficult to legally challenge them and their exports will also suffer. Developing countries distrust the developed countries’ endeavour to link environment and trade – their fear being that trade / environment linkages are sought for purely protectionist reasons. To that extent, the 1992 UN Convention on Climate Change specified that “measures taken to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade.” In 1998, in the context of a US ban on the import of shrimp that was caught in a way that harmed endangered turtles, Anil Agarwal of Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment, argued against the use of trade sanctions on environmental grounds. “Only economically powerful nations can impose effective trade sanctions against less economically powerful nations. This tool for bringing environmentally errant nations to task cannot be used by less economically powerful nations against the global economic powers, howsoever bad their environmental track record might be,” he stated. Agarwal raised the issue of the climate problem where the US is the biggest perpetrator, asking “can the nations likely to be most affected by global warming – the Maldives and Bangladesh – impose trade sanctions on the US and expect it to be effective?” Moreover, the criteria on which some of the new policy tools are hinged, such as differing emission intensities of production among countries, cannot be delinked from the climate justice question. Take the case of a CBAM that imposes a border adjustment tax on exporting countries on the basis of a higher emission intensity and the absence of a domestic carbon pricing mechanism, compared to the EU. Higher emissions intensity in many developing countries is linked to a number of historical variables including the offshoring of carbon intensive manufacturing from developed countries, and a belated effort at improving developmental outcomes through the use of cheap energy, which in many cases is coal. The latter is occurring decades after the Global North industrialised through unhindered fossil fuel dependence and now has the means to gradually decarbonise. The unilateral imposition of a carbon tax on traded goods neglects this history. Yet, in an increasingly climate-risked world, the lines between trade rules and greenhouse gas (GHG) governance rules are getting blurred, especially considering that GHG emissions produced locally have a global warming impact and do not restrain themselves within territorial borders. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CARBON, IT’S ALSO ECONOMIC MIGHT Green is the colour of tomorrow’s world economy, as clean technologies produced by low-carbon industrial processes will dominate, and fossil fuels and carbon intensive production increasingly become stranded assets. Therefore, for the world powers, carbon is not the only consideration, it is economic relevance as well. The US’ statement on its Climate and Trade Taskforce comes with caveats – the provisions will be extended to “like-minded” countries, a continuation of the strategy of ‘friendshoring’ to counter China’s dominance of manufacturing as well as the new green supply chains.

• Down To Earth

International Day For Biological Diversity: Preserving Nature For Future Generations

Humans have a huge impact on biodiversity, harming it as well as safeguarding it. That's why it's crucial to create sufficient understanding on how important biodiversity is, for oneself and for the environment. Since the beginning of the 21st century, India has lost 19 per cent of its total tree cover. While 2.8 per cent of our forests were lost to deforestation, much of it is also a consequence of wildfires, which affected more than 18,000 square kilometres of forest per year – more than twice the annual average of deforestation. That's why raising awareness about biodiversity is part of many international plans and strategies. India has four important areas with a multitude of different animals and plants, called biodiversity hotspots. But human activity is putting these areas at risk. These include the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, Sundaland (which includes the Nicobar Islands), and the Indo-Burma region. A report from 2021 by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says India has lost nearly 90 per cent of the land in these hotspots. Of these, the Indo-Burma region has been hit the hardest. This International Day for Biological Diversity, let’s think of the amazing variety of life on Earth and the urgent need to protect it. Biodiversity is crucial to keep our ecosystems balanced, , and ensure the well-being of current and future generations. We need to think about our own actions too: What can each person do to protect biodiversity in the long run?

• Down To Earth

Climate change impacts millions in India. But as the country votes, some politicians skirt the issue

A report by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said India experienced extreme weather on nearly 90% of the days last year. BEED, India: Almost 970 million Indians are voting in general elections amid sweltering heat and unpredictable weather extremes exacerbated by human-caused climate change, leading to loss of livelihood, forced migration and increasingly difficult living conditions for millions across the country. Voters are looking for politicians who promise relief, stability and resilience to the wide-ranging and damaging effects of a warming climate. In their election manifestos, India’s top political parties, including the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition, the Congress party, have made multiple promises to act on climate damage and reduce emissions of planet-heating gases. But there has been little talk about climate change on the campaign trail. “Climate change is still not among the headlines during these elections despite its obvious impact on millions of Indian lives,” said Anjal Prakash, author of multiple United Nations climate reports. The Indian subcontinent — surrounded by ocean on three sides and the Himalayan ranges to its north — is vulnerable to sea level rise, severe storms, heavy floods and melting glaciers. It’s also experienced extreme heat spells and severe drought as global average temperatures climb. A report by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said India experienced extreme weather on nearly 90% of the days last year. Here’s a look at how the effects of climate change are influencing voters. EXTREME HEAT AND LONGER DROUGHTS IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL INDIA Vaibhav Maske’s millet farm was dry to the bone in early May, even though he dug three borewells 600 feet deep looking for water. The 25-year-old lives in Marathwada, one of the most acutely affected heat and drought-prone regions in western Maharashtra state, and farmers there say the current summer is the worst major drought in almost a decade. But politicians haven’t been paying attention. “Politicians are only talking about religion and caste. No one is talking about the environment or farmers issues,” said Maske. “They are saying Prime Minister Modi is giving money to farmers, that’s good. But at the same time, the taxes are so high on everything including our farm equipment, so how can we make ends meet this way?”