Cse In News

Climate Change and Green Economy

FEATURE-Indian farmers rack up carbon credits with climate-conscious ways

What convinced middle-aged traditional farmer Singh to change how he grows rice was the prospect of benefiting from another fledgling movement: generating carbon credits through sustainable agriculture to sell for additional income. “The new method of rice cultivation is not only helping my land regain its fertility - it is also helping fight global warming,” Singh said. Indian farmer Jitendra Singh proudly holds up a rice stem on his farm of lush green paddy. "Look at the height and health of this plant - the number of florets on it is amazing," he said. Located in the northern state of Haryana, one of India’s main rice and wheat-growing regions, Singh's 80-acre (32.4-hectare) farm is part of a gradual shift in how Indians cultivate their staple crops, from a model that is fertiliser and water-intensive to more natural, climate-friendly ways. What convinced middle-aged traditional farmer Singh to change how he grows rice was the prospect of benefiting from another fledgling movement: generating carbon credits through sustainable agriculture to sell for additional income. “The new method of rice cultivation is not only helping my land regain its fertility - it is also helping fight global warming,” Singh said. He expects to be among the first tranche of Indian farmers to receive payments from the carbon market. A score of private firms have emerged in the past few years in India, tying up with farmers like Singh to generate carbon credits, even as the role of voluntary carbon offsetting in reducing global climate-heating emissions comes under scrutiny. Across the country, these startups are enrolling farmers who cultivate resource-intensive crops like rice, cotton and sugarcane and are nudging them to use practices that emit less planet-warming gases - and in return generating credits for the avoided carbon and methane emissions from their farms. Emissions from agriculture and land use accounted for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to U.N. data. HIGHER YIELDS, LOWER EMISSIONS Singh first heard about the carbon credit programme in 2019 from a representative of Grow Indigo, one of the new backers of agriculture-based carbon offset projects in India. Grow Indigo is a joint venture of India-based seed firm Mahyco Grow and U.S.-based agriculture technology company Indigo Ag which produces and sells farm-linked carbon credits. With technical support from Grow Indigo, Singh tested a new way of cultivating rice on 20 acres of his farm. Instead of transplanting seedlings from a nursery into flooded fields, he used a drill machine to directly sow seed into the soil. The new method - called direct seeded rice (DSR) - cuts the overall cost of cultivation by using 12-35% less irrigation water and reducing labour, sowing time and use of chemical herbicides and fertilisers. “My rice yields have increased without having to flood my fields again and again - which also stops methane generation,” said Singh. Report Ad Produced by bacteria in flooded fields, among other sources, methane is a short-lived greenhouse gas that has more potent capacity to heat up the Earth's climate than carbon dioxide (CO2). The cultivation of rice - a staple food for more than 3 billion people worldwide - is responsible for 12% of global methane emissions and 1.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Singh also changed his traditional method of cultivating wheat, a winter crop that follows the monsoon crop of rice. After harvesting rice, Singh no longer sets the stubble on fire - a major seasonal source of air pollution. Instead, he mulches and spreads the stubble across the field, into which he plants wheat seeds directly without tilling - a practice that disturbs the soil and releases carbon. The new "zero-till" method helps trap soil carbon, while mulching increases the fertility of the soil. FAIR SHARE FOR FARMERS Typically, avoiding or reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to one tonne of CO2 generates one carbon credit. For instance, when Singh avoids methane emissions from his rice cultivation or sequesters carbon in the soil by not tilling it, he can generate one carbon credit per acre. Grow Indigo measures this carbon storage over a period using a combination of sampling methods and satellite monitoring, and then has it checked by a third-party auditor. Once verified and entered on a recognised registry, the credits are available for purchase by buyers who want to offset their own carbon emissions, such as corporations or individuals. For example, a multinational company could buy the credits to compensate for the emissions of its employees' air travel. Generally, the price of one credit - depending on its quality - ranges between $2 and $50 on the voluntary carbon market, said Umang Agarwal, head of carbon and sustainable produce at Grow Indigo. Agarwal said he hoped Indigo Agriculture's strict methodology would allow the Indian credits to fetch a high price, with farmers set to receive 75% of the revenue compared to the 35-45% share offered by some companies in India. “If the money for carbon credits comes, good - otherwise I am happy with the yield gains through new methods,” said Gurucharan Singh Bhuttar, another farmer cultivating wheat and rice on 60 acres in Karnal district. Bhuttar, who signed up with Grow Indigo about four years ago, said his wheat yield has increased after switching to the zero-till method, bringing in additional income of about 500,000 rupees ($6,000) per year as well as lower cultivation costs. Carbon credits from agriculture are still a nascent market globally, according to Ecosystem Marketplace, an international repository of information on payments for ecosystem services. Its figures show that in 2021, 500 million carbon credits were traded globally, valued at $2 billion. Of those, agriculture credits accounted for only 1 million, or about 0.2%. Indian developers have yet to sell any farm offsets on the international carbon market, but Grow Indigo predicts they could grow into a $5 billion-$7 billion market in India in a decade. DOUBTS OVER CLIMATE BENEFITS Globally, the voluntary carbon market has come under fire over the integrity of its contribution to the fight against warming. Failings identified by researchers include emissions reduction claims that are temporary or were already happening, displacement of the emissions to other sites, exaggerated climate benefits and projects that would take place even without finance from the carbon market. In the case of India, a recent analysis from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based think-tank, noted that the sale price of credits is “at times inflated and at times it is so low that the project becomes unviable". In some cases, the CSE found that a project had issued too many credits or had not resulted in the changes claimed on the ground. People who provided land and labour were not fairly compensated and project-related information was not transparent, it said in a report. “I have never personally seen such a shroud of secrecy as I found in this market,” CSE's director general Sunita Narain told the report's launch. "The entire purpose of these markets seems to serve the interests of project developers, buyers and intermediaries and not the mitigation of emissions," she added, calling for a floor price of $30 per credit. Governments should consider these lessons when they meet at the COP28 U.N. climate conference in December to discuss the rules for global carbon markets, Narain added. Back in Karnal district, meanwhile, Singh is enthusiastically awaiting the first reward for his new eco-friendly approach. “If one farmer receives these carbon credit payments, others will not need much convincing to join,” he said.

Climate Change and Green Economy

CSE pitches for regulating ‘secret’ carbon market, flags need for transparency

NEW DELHI: As countries gear up for the upcoming UN climate conference (COP28), the New Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has brought a spotlight on voluntary carbon (dioxide) offset markets by highlighting how “cloaked-in-secrecy world of voluntary trade in carbon credits” might be doing much more harm than good, and seems to be working for the interests of project developers, auditors, verifiers and registries. Pitching for regulating such trade globally through creating an official carbon market, the CSE has sought negotiators to frame rules in such a way that the carbon credits must work for combating climate change as the issue is expected to figure prominently during COP28, scheduled to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12. The global market for carbon offsets falls under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted in 2015. Though countries agreed on a rulebook governing the carbon market during COP26 at Glasgow in 2021, the critical issues regarding necessary administrative infrastructure for the multilateral carbon credit market and accounting methodologies to avoid the risk of leakage and double counting remain unresolved. Ahead of the negotiations to fill these gaps by countries in Dubai, the CSE has highlighted many flaws of the existing voluntary carbon market in the Indian context through an investigation conducted by its researchers over the past six months. Its detailed investigative report - titled 'Discredited: The voluntary carbon market in India' - claimed to have covered 40 villages and towns across India to understand how the market works and found that though communities, their lands and their labour were central to the business/projects, such stakeholders were almost never aware that they were working to generate carbon credits. Besides, they had no rights of their own over those credits, it added. "We wanted to find out if this market was working to benefit people and the planet. What we found was there is much that needs to be done...The carbon market should be a real market and not a secret pact between buyer and seller,” said Sunita Narain, director general, CSE, referring to findings of the investigation. Underlining the accountability issue in the absence of an official mechanism, the think tank flagged that the voluntary carbon markets currently operate without regulatory oversight, and lack uniformity and standardization. "They are managed through a paraphernalia of registries, project developers, validators and verifiers, traders, brokers, and carbon exchanges," it said. Carbon Market: A tool to combat climate change CARBON CREDITS *Credits are assigned to projects that can reduce greenhouse gases *These credits, measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e), are then priced and traded *People and businesses that wish to offset their emissions can buy these credits and ‘neutralise’ their carbon footprints CARBON MARKET *The world, however, does not have an official carbon market yet for such trade *So, a voluntary carbon market exists for trading *The world has two leading carbon registries – Verra and Global Standard *Together, they have registered 6,481 projects across the globe till May, 2023 *They have issued 1.4 billion carbon credits INDIAN SCENE *India is the world’s second-largest supplier of carbon offsets *India’s voluntary carbon market is worth over $1.2 billion *India has 1,451 projects listed with the two registries *Indian entities have already earned about $652 million from carbon credits used to offset emissions

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

City breathes easier as wind helps improve air, hazy skies here to stay

Gurgaon: The city’s air quality improved slightly on Sunday, but experts say hazy skies are still here to stay. The average 24-hour air quality index (AQI) was 234 — or ‘poor’ — on Sunday as winds up to 5kmph helped clear away some pollutants. AQI was in the ‘very poor’ zone for the three preceding days before — it was 363, 358 and 322 from Thursday to Saturday. Meteorologists said on Sunday that wind speed is likely to slow down in the coming days and temperatures are likely to keep falling, allowing pollutants to remain suspended in the air. Stubble burning, too, has continued. “Weather conditions are likely to be highly unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants from November 23. The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from northwest directions with wind speed up to 08-04 kmph and becoming calm during evening/night, mainly clear sky and shallow fog in the morning from November 20 to 22. The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category,” according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar). Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said this brief improvement in air quality is “temporary relief”. “In the coming days, when the mercury dips further, local factors will contribute to the atmosphere and with low wind speed, pollutants will linger in the atmosphere,” he said. On Sunday, temperature dropped to 12.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest that mercury has fallen to this season, data by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed. “At present, cold northwesterly winds are blowing into the region… Severe winter conditions are likely to develop in the coming weeks,” said Manmohan Singh, the director of India -Chandigarh. AQI over most days in the past two weeks has been between ‘poor’ and ‘severe’ bands of the scale due to weather conditions, local emissions and pollutants released from farm fires across northwest India. Satellite data from Nasa that is collated by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute showed that farm fires have continued despite orders by the Supreme Court to states to stop them. A total of 51,533 instances of farm fires, a majority in Punjab (34,459), have been detected across six states between September 15 and November 19. The count is slowly coming down, but it’s still far from over. Farm fires in Punjab were between 1,000 and 2,000 between November 13 and 17, and have come down to less than 1,000 in the days after. Similarly, Haryana was recording around 40-60 farm fires a day, and the figure has dropped to below 40. The average PM2.5 pollutant was 210µg/m³ at the Sector 51 station, followed by 189µg/m³ at Teri Gram and 167µg/m³ at Vikas Sadan station on Sunday. The level of PM10 was 206µg/m³ at the Sector 51 station and 178µg/m³ at Teri Gram. PM10 data from the Vikas Sadan station was not available. The annual average permissible limit is 60µg/m³ for PM2.5 and 100µg/m³ for PM10. Neighbouring Delhi (301) and Faridabad (327) were in the ‘very poor’ category while Noida (268) and Ghaziabad (280) recorded ‘poor’ air. Health experts said that patients with pre-existing respiratory conditions or medical conditions are at higher risk and may also require short hospitalisations. “At present, the region is entering the winter cycle, which means that hospitals will see more bronchitis cases in the coming days. All hospitals have been told to treat emergency cases at the earliest. Parents are advised to avoid taking infants outdoors if the AQI is high. People should wear N95 masks during this weather,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.

Climate Change and Green Economy

COP28: US plans to push for curbs on methane emission worldwide at key UN meet

The US plans to focus on pushing for curbs on methane emission globally in a big way at the upcoming UN climate conference to be held in Dubai, officials said in a briefing. The US, China and the United Arab Emirates will also hold a methane and other non-greenhouse gas summit during the proceedings starting on November 30. Curbing methane is the fastest and cheapest way to keep average temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius, a US state department official said on Friday during the briefing. An American initiative to raise at least $200 million to tackle methane gas emissions will be exceeded at the annual climate meet, the official said, seeking anonymity. The US also welcomed China’s commitment to include curbs on methane in their 2035 nationally determined contribution (NDC). This is the first time China has agreed to curbs on methane emissions, which are largely contributed from the global south. The Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis, a joint statement released by the US and China on November 14, said the two nations will implement their respective national methane action plans. The US and China, two of the largest emitters, have agreed to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 in line with the intention expressed in the G20’s New Delhi Declaration issued this September, HT reported on November 16. They have also suggested that their emissions from the power sector will peak during this decade. China is the largest emitter, followed by the US and India, based on 2019 data compiled by the World Resources Institute. The statement, however, is silent on phasing out or phasing down fossil fuels and places too much focus on carbon removal and sequestration technologies, which are still at a nascent stage and whose effectiveness has not been fully proven, according to a brief by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). While the G20 declaration did not mention methane, it did commend countries that have NDCs with economy wide targets and targets covering all greenhouse gases. China is the largest methane emitter, followed by the US and India. China and India have not signed the Global Methane Pledge yet, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The pledge was launched by the US and the European Union at the 2021 climate summit in Glasgow. Around 110 countries have committed to a collective goal of reducing global methane emissions from human activity by at least 30% compared with 2020 levels by 2030. The major source of methane are anthropogenic sources, especially agriculture, followed by the oil and gas sector and waste, the IEA said. Methane has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than carbon dioxide (around 12 years compared with centuries for CO2), but it is a much more potent greenhouse gas, absorbing much more energy while it exists in the atmosphere, the agency added. India had not signed the methane pledge mainly because of its potential repercussions for small and medium farmers and the agricultural sector. On a question raised in the Rajya Sabha in 2021 on why India is not a signatory to the pledge, the environment ministry said that in the context of food security, India’s methane emissions are “survival” emissions. The two predominant sources of methane emissions in India are enteric fermentation and paddy cultivation. These emissions result from the agricultural activities of small, marginal and medium farmers, whose livelihood stands threatened by the methane pledge, the ministry had said. “Methane and CO2 are both important and if this can push oil and gas sector to reduce emissions, it is a low hanging fruit,” said Sunita Narain, director general at the Centre for Science and Environment, an advocacy group. “My concern is controlling methane from agriculture is not easy in our world as it is about survival emissions and nobody in the rich world wants to change diets necessary for reducing methane.” Methane is responsible for around 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution, and rapid and sustained reductions in such emissions are key to limiting near-term warming and improve air quality. But, CO2 has contributed more than any driver to climate change between 1750 and 2011. Atmospheric CO2 levels rose 40% between 1750 and 2011. Half of human-related CO2 emissions occurred only in the past 40 years, according to Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit. Wealthy nations led by the US have been majorly responsible for historic CO2 emissions that have contributed to climate change, the collective said. “In the face of the escalating global climate crisis, the US’ call for prioritising methane emission reductions over carbon dioxide curtailments raises critical questions of fairness and feasibility. This stance not only overlooks the historical responsibility of industrialised nations for the bulk of long-lived CO2 emissions, but also disregards the unique developmental challenges faced by developing countries,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International. “In developing economies, agriculture, a major source of methane emissions, is vital for their food security and economic development. Placing excessive pressure on these countries to reduce methane emissions could jeopardise these critical sectors,” he added. “We need a comprehensive and equitable approach to climate change that addresses both methane and CO2 emissions effectively. Achieving this will require technological innovation, policy changes, and, crucially, international cooperation that respects the diverse capabilities and responsibilities of all nations.”

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

दिल्ली-एनसीआर से भी जहरीली हुई मुंबई की हवा, सीधे खून में जा सकते हैं कण

दिल्ली और एनसीआर (Delhi and NCR) की फिजा में जितनी जहरीली हवा (poisonous air) के कण घूम रहे हैं, उससे कहीं ज्यादा खतरनाक कण देश की आर्थिक राजधानी मुंबई (Mumbai) में मौजूद हैं। वैज्ञानिकों की मानें तो अगर ऐसी ही परिस्थितियां लगातार बनी रहीं, तो तटीय इलाकों के शहरों में दिल्ली एनसीआर से ज्यादा खतरनाक हालात पैदा हो सकते हैं। फिलहाल केंद्रीय प्रदूषण कंट्रोल बोर्ड (Central Pollution Control Board) समेत इस दिशा में काम करने वाली तमाम एजेंसियों ने इन शहरों के लिए न सिर्फ चेतावनी जारी की है, बल्कि ऐसे इलाकों में हो रहे अंधाधुंध निर्माण पर निगरानी बरतने और जरूरत पड़ने पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए भी कहा है। बीते कुछ दिनों में मुंबई जैसे महानगरों में वायु की गुणवत्ता सबसे खराब की श्रेणी में पहुंच चुकी है। बीते कुछ दिनों से जिस तरीके से दिल्ली में वायु प्रदूषण खतरनाक स्थिति में पहुंच चुका है, ठीक इसी तरीके से समुद्री इलाकों में बसे शहरों में भी एक्यूआई लेवल ‘वेरी पुअर’ की श्रेणी में पहुंच चुका है। केंद्रीय प्रदूषण कंट्रोल बोर्ड के आंकड़ों के मुताबिक मुंबई और चेन्नई जैसे शहरों में भी वायु प्रदूषण लगातार बढ़ता जा रहा है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट के एयर पॉल्यूशन कंट्रोल यूनिट के प्रमुख कार्यक्रम प्रबंधक विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय कहते हैं कि मुंबई और चेन्नई जैसे शहरों में लगातार प्रदूषण बढ़ता बहुत खतरनाक संकेत है। इसके पीछे का तर्क देते हुए वह कहते हैं कि मुंबई में एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स 350 के करीब पहुंच चुका है, जो कि आने वाले दिनों में और बढ़ सकता है। वह कहते हैं कि यह चिंता की बात इसलिए सबसे ज्यादा है क्योंकि समुद्र के किनारे बसे शहरों और राज्यों को इस बात का हमेशा से अंदाजा रहा है कि समुद्री हवाओं के चलते इन शहरों में प्रदूषण कम होता है। लेकिन जिस तरह से लगातार शहरों में निर्माण और वाहनों की संख्या बढ़ रही है, उससे यहां की समुद्री हवाएं इन शहरों के प्रदूषण को खत्म नहीं कर पा रही हैं। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट के अपने आंकलन के मुताबिक मुंबई की हवा में सबसे जहरीले कण पीएम-1 दिल्ली की तुलना में ज्यादा पाए गए। वह कहते हैं कि दिल्ली में पीएम 2.5 ज्यादा है जबकि उससे भी महीन कण जो कि सीधे रक्त की कणिकाओं में जाते हैं वह पीएम-1 मुंबई में ज्यादा हैं। इसके पीछे का कारण बताते हुए विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय कहते हैं कि मुंबई में जिस तरह से ऊंची-ऊंची इमारतें बनाई जा रही हैं उससे समुद्र की ओर से बहने वाली हवाओ में अवरोध पैदा हो रहा है और इन ऊंची-ऊंची बिल्डिंगों के बीच में “कैन्यान इफेक्ट” बन जाता है। जिसके चलते प्रदूषण के कण शहर में ही मौजूद रहते हैं और हवाएं भी बेअसर हो जाती हैं। वह कहते हैं कि मुंबई और चेन्नई जैसे शहरों में शुरुआती दौर से यह माना जाता रहा है कि यहां की हवाएं शहर के प्रदूषण को खत्म कर देती हैं, लेकिन अब यह ट्रेंड बदल रहा है। बीते कुछ समय से इन शहरों की एक्यूआई प्रभावित हो रही है। केंद्रीय प्रदूषण कंट्रोल बोर्ड ने भी समुद्री किनारों पर बसे शहरों में बढ़ रहे प्रदूषण पर चिंता जताई है। बोर्ड के वैज्ञानिकों के मुताबिक इन शहरों के लिए भी बाकायदा गाइडलाइंस जारी की गई है और राज्यों को कड़े कदम उठाने के लिए कहा गया है। सीपीसीबी के मुताबिक इन राज्यों में समय-समय पर अस्पतालों के बीच से रेस्पिरेटरी डाटा इकट्ठा करने और पब्लिक हेल्थ प्रोटक्शन प्लान के मुताबिक रणनीति बनाने के लिए निर्देश दिए गए हैं। सीसीबी के वरिष्ठ अधिकारियों का कहना है कि यह निर्देश सिर्फ महाराष्ट्र के लिए नहीं बल्कि उन सभी समुद्री किनारों पर बसे हुए शहरों और राज्यों की जिम्मेदार अथॉरिटी को दिए गए हैं, जहां पर यह पहले से माना जाता रहा है कि समुद्री हवाओं से प्रदूषण कम होता है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट के एयर पॉल्यूशन कंट्रोल यूनिट के प्रिंसिपल प्रोग्राम मैनेजर विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय कहते हैं कि अब यह तथ्य सही नहीं है कि समुद्र के इलाकों में प्रदूषण नहीं होता। सीएसई के इन इलाकों में किए गए अपने अध्ययन के मुताबिक जमीनी स्तर पर निर्माण काम ज्यादा हो रहा है। इसके अलावा दिल्ली और एनसीआर की तरह अन्य प्रभावित इलाकों की तरह समुद्री क्षेत्र में बसे शहरों का मॉनिटरिंग सिस्टम भी मजबूत नहीं है। वैज्ञानिकों का कहना है कि दिल्ली-एनसीआर जैसे शहरों में ग्रैप के माध्यम से बहुत हद तक प्रदूषण पर कंट्रोल लगाने की कोशिश तो की जाती है। लेकिन मुंबई और चेन्नई जैसे शहरों में ऐसी मजबूत व्यवस्था लागू ही नहीं है। यही वजह है कि लगातार बढ़ रहे वाहनों की संख्या और हो रहे निर्माण के चलते समुद्री किनारों पर बसे शहर लगातार प्रदूषित हो रहे हैं। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट के वैज्ञानिकों का मानना है कि बीते दो से तीन सालों में यह परिस्थितियां तटीय इलाकों में ज्यादा बदहाल हुई हैं। मुंबई में प्रदूषण की देखरेख करने और इस दिशा में काम करने वाली गैर सरकारी संस्था कोस्टल एयर कंट्रोल डिविजन के सुमित डालचंद पाटिल कहते हैं कि बीते कुछ सालों में सिर्फ मुंबई ही नहीं बल्कि अन्य तटीय इलाकों में हर तरीके का प्रदूषण लगातार बढ़ रहा है। उनका मानना है कि मुंबई में वायु प्रदूषण की प्रमुख वजहों में बिजली उत्पादक संयंत्रों की भी बहुत बड़ी भूमिका है। इसके अलावा लगातार बढ़ रहे वाहनों समेत अलग-अलग इलाकों में हो रहे तेजी से निर्माण प्रदूषण को बढ़ाने के बड़े कारक हैं। सुमित कहते हैं कि वैसे तो महाराष्ट्र समेत अन्य तटीय राज्यों में सांस की बीमारियों का एक स्पेसिफिक डाटा रिलीज किया जाना चाहिए। लेकिन जो आंकड़े अभी तक पता चले हैं, उसमें यह बात सामने आई है कि मुंबई में सांस के रोगियों की संख्या भी बढ़ रही है। वह कहते हैं कि सीपीसीबी समेत तमाम गैर सरकारी संस्थाएं लगातार प्रदूषण के बढ़ रहे इस ख़तरनाक स्तर पर राज्य की एजेंसियों को अलर्ट भी जारी कर रही हैं।

Water Programme

Knee-Deep In Toxic Foam, Devotees Offer Chhath Prayers At Delhi's Yamuna River: Watch

As Chhath Puja 2023 comes to an end, devotees on Monday morning were seen giving the final Arghya of this year at Delhi's Kalindi Kunj Ghat while standing knee-deep in toxic foam floating on the surface of the Yamuna river. The foam caused by a high amount of phosphate can lead to skin and respiratory problems, but like every year, devotees braced the recurring problem to offer their prayers. Toxic Foam In Yamuna River A Recurring Problem Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi had earlier promised to tackle the issue in two days. She said, "To remove that (toxic foam), sprinkling of food-grade chemicals and enzymes is being done there. The sprinkling team started the sprinkling work on 10 boats last night. In the next two days, the toxic foam will completely vanish...But I would like to urge the Uttar Pradesh government to not send its polluted water to Delhi." Almost every year Yamuna river faces the same situation during the time of Chhath. According to an Indian Express report, a Delhi Jal Board official said that the presence of phosphates from detergents, and anaerobic bacteria in the water that falls from a height at the Okhla barrage leads to this issue. Senior Programme Manager of the Water Programme at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Sushmita Sengupta, said that the river is in a lean phase at this time of the year and the water flow is less due to which pollutants are not diluted causing foaming.

Water Programme

Water Wisdom: Climate change and heat wave

This monsoon, when the precious rainwater goes down the drain, let us take a moment to recapitulate the knowledge of water management and what it means in a climate-risked world. There are two incontrovertible facts: one, water is a key determinant of health security and economic growth. Two, water wars are not inevitable but will happen if we do not manage our resource prudently. This requires us to get the policy and practice of water management right. The good news is water literacy has increased. Over the past decades, the country has learnt critical lessons on water management and evolved a new paradigm. Till the late 1980s, water management was largely confined to the issue of irrigation projects — building dams and canals to store and supply water over long distances. Then came the big droughts of late 1980s. It became clear that it was not enough to plan for augmenting water supply through large projects. This was when the Centre for Science and Environment published its report, Dying Wisdom, which documented traditional technologies for rainwater harvesting in ecological diverse regions of India. The slogan was: rain is decentralized, so is the demand for water. So, capture rain when and where it falls. There was a paradigm shift in policy. During the droughts of the late 1990s, states launched massive programmes to capture rainwater by building ponds, digging tanks and setting up check-dams on streams. By the mid-2000s, these efforts coalesced into the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) — investing labour into building rural water assets. By this time, it was understood that groundwater, considered a “minor” resource was the “major” supplier of water for both drinking and irrigation. It was understood that over 50 per cent of agriculture in the country was still rain-fed, and so water conservation and rainwater harvesting — ensuring that every well and water body was recharged — was critical for productivity and well-being. In the 2010s, the crisis of urban drought hit home. Policy evolved as it learnt that augmenting water supply was only a part of the challenge — cities were getting dependent on long-distance sources; pumping and piping this water meant losses in distribution and rising electricity costs, which made the available water expensive and its supply inequitable. As water supply dried up, people turned to groundwater, but without recharge — ponds and tanks had been decimated by real estate or simply through neglect— it only meant declining water levels. That was the decade when water supply was linked to pollution — more water supply meant more wastewater. This, without adequate treatment, leads to pollution of rivers and water bodies, which in turn destroys available water; increases the cost of cleaning up drinking water. A few years later, research showed that the bulk of urban residents were not even connected to underground sewerage network, which is capital- and resource-intensive. Instead, they depended on on-site sewage ”disposal” systems, where household toilets were connected to septic tanks or just holding tanks or even to open drains in the vicinity. The sewage treatment infrastructure was not designed to fit the city sanitation system and so remained underutilized as is done in Sewage Treatment Project of Imphal City. Rivers remained polluted as seen in Nambul, Imphal and Thoubal Rivers. In all this, new solutions emerged — if affordable water supply was critical, then cities needed to cut the length of distribution pipelines, which meant increased focus on local water systems like ponds, tanks and rainwater harvesting structures. Then, if cities needed to ensure affordable sanitation for all and affordable treatment of wastewater, on-site systems could be re-engineered so that waste was collected from each household, transported and treated. But most importantly, we have learnt that if this urban-industrial wastewater is treated for reuse then water will not be lost; our rivers will not be lost. This means, doing everything from investing in water-efficient irrigation and household appliances to changing diets to ensure that the crops we eat are water-prude. This decade, we can put all that we have learnt into practice to turn around the water story of India, as in this decade we will see the revenge of nature as climate change impacts grow. We need to scale up our work to invest in local water systems to capture every drop of rain so that we can build local resilience against drought. We also need to do this in our cities — the lakes and ponds are the sponges that will allow us to harvest the rain-flood and to make sure it does not turn into wasted water. Then we need to protect our forest and green spaces as this is how groundwater will get recharged. In times of water stress we must make sure that wastewater — sewage — is not only treated but also recycled and reused. It is here that the water bodies we protect in our cities — the same ponds and tanks that we use to divert and harvest rainwater — could be used to channelise the treated sewage and in turn recharge groundwater. Only this approach can make us water-secure. Heat waves have been going through some extraordinary changes in recent history. Since midway through the 20th century, their intensity, frequency and duration have increased across the globe – and these changes are happening faster and faster. Research indicates that this is simply not possible without human influence on the climate. A child born today could see an extra 30 to 50 heat wave days every year by the time they are 80, up from roughly 4 to 10 days today. Southern states of Australia, such as Victoria and South Australia, which already experience the country’s hottest heat waves, could see hot days become hotter by up to 4 degrees Celsius. Across Europe, heat waves may become hotter by up to 10 degrees Celsius and some heat waves will last up to two months by the end of this century. In just the next 20 years, the US will experience three to five more heat waves every decade compared to the second half of the 20th century. Heat waves are closely linked to droughts. Generally, a large amount of energy from the Sun goes into drying out moisture in the landscape. But as the amount of moisture available for evaporation declines during a drought, more energy is available for heating the air and the temperature rises. This can become a vicious cycle of increasing evaporation and desiccation of the land surface. And of course, during times of heat waves and droughts, wildfires will ignite more readily, burn more intensely and spread faster. The link between wildfire and heat waves has been seen across the world in numerous examples. The Australian 2019-20 fire season, known as the ‘Black Summer’, saw huge areas of the populated eastern seaboard dramatically ablaze. The fact that it coincided with Australia’s hottest and driest year on record was no accident. Extreme fire weather rolled across the continent on an almost weekly basis. First a heat wave would develop across southeast Australia, with hot and dry air funneled from the center of the continent drying out dead litter and branches and even live vegetation. This, combined with strong north-westerly winds forming ahead of a cold front, required just a spark to result in what became known as ‘firestorms’. Then, the cold front would arrive; further escalating fire behaviour and triggering thunderstorms and lightning strikes – many of which would flare into the next round of wildfires. ADVERTISEMENT Deep and extensive drought all but guaranteed the fires found fuel that was fully available to burn. In lock-step with heat waves, wildfires are a worsening global problem and extreme wildfires, in particular, are affecting fire-prone regions such as western North America, Eastern Russia, and Mediterranean Europe. For example, the Russian heat wave in 2010 when 300,000 hectares were destroyed by simultaneous wildfires; the 2016 western Canadian heat wave and the Fort McMurray wildfire; and the more recent 2021 record heat wave in British Columbia where temperature records were smashed by up to 5°C, and which was immediately followed by the destruction of the town of Lytton by wildfire. With climate change driving more heat waves, associated weather and climate-related factors will increase the incidence of extreme wildfires. A Royal Commission initiated after Australia’s Black Summer fire disaster pointed to an urgent need to improve disaster management capabilities in order to respond to more frequent, intense, complex and costly fires under a changing climate. This can be done in all of three ways: first, limit the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to fire; second, limit communities and ecosystems exposure to fire; third, limit the fire itself. For example, improving community information and fire preparedness reduces vulnerability. Improved development planning, building standards and management of the forest-urban boundary reduces exposure. Land management that reduces the opportunity for large fires to develop, or firefighting to extinguish fires once they start, reduces the fire itself. Information about forest dryness is useful for early warning and preparedness for extreme fires. Similarly, mapping climate variability across many years can help predict extreme years. Recommendations of the Royal Commission included improving national systems of collecting and sharing bushfire related information, including information on climate change and fuel loads. ‘Hazard reduction burns’ are a practice that is widely used to reduce forest fire risk in Australia. However, scientific studies have found no clear indication of how much fuel load matters in extreme wildfires. Given that fuel loads are one of the few elements of fire that humans can control, this is concerning, as it suggests hazard reduction burning may be of only limited effectiveness. Of course, there are limits to how much the risk of wildfires can be mitigated. As climate change moves fire outside of the range of human experience, disaster management will become increasingly challenging and potentially less effective. While efforts can be made to limit vulnerability, exposure and fire itself, it is clear that the contribution of climate change to fire risk would be lower if greenhouse gas emissions were curtailed. Pursuing ambitious global greenhouse gas mitigation alongside national and local measures to adapt to a climate changed world is a necessary strategy if we are to limit further increases in fire risk.

Climate Change and Green Economy

COP28: US plans to push for curbs on methane emission worldwide at key UN meet

अधिकारियों ने एक ब्रीफिंग में कहा कि अमेरिका दुबई में होने वाले आगामी संयुक्त राष्ट्र जलवायु सम्मेलन में वैश्विक स्तर पर मीथेन उत्सर्जन पर बड़े पैमाने पर अंकुश लगाने पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने की योजना बना रहा है। 30 नवंबर से शुरू होने वाली कार्यवाही के दौरान अमेरिका, चीन और संयुक्त अरब अमीरात मीथेन और अन्य गैर-ग्रीनहाउस गैस शिखर सम्मेलन भी आयोजित करेंगे। संयुक्त अरब अमीरात के अबू धाबी में जलवायु कार्रवाई पर केंद्रित एक कार्यशाला के दौरान एक व्यक्ति ‘#COP28’ चिन्ह के पास से गुजरता हुआ। (रॉयटर्स) अमेरिकी विदेश विभाग के एक अधिकारी ने शुक्रवार को ब्रीफिंग के दौरान कहा कि औसत तापमान वृद्धि को 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस से कम रखने के लिए मीथेन पर अंकुश लगाना सबसे तेज़ और सस्ता तरीका है। अधिकारी ने नाम न छापने की शर्त पर बताया कि मीथेन गैस उत्सर्जन से निपटने के लिए कम से कम 200 मिलियन डॉलर जुटाने की अमेरिकी पहल को वार्षिक जलवायु बैठक में पार किया जाएगा। अमेरिका ने अपने 2035 के राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर निर्धारित योगदान (एनडीसी) में मीथेन पर अंकुश लगाने की चीन की प्रतिबद्धता का भी स्वागत किया। यह पहली बार है कि चीन मीथेन उत्सर्जन पर अंकुश लगाने पर सहमत हुआ है, जिसका योगदान बड़े पैमाने पर वैश्विक दक्षिण से होता है। जलवायु संकट से निपटने के लिए सहयोग बढ़ाने पर सनीलैंड्स स्टेटमेंट, 14 नवंबर को अमेरिका और चीन द्वारा जारी एक संयुक्त बयान में कहा गया है कि दोनों देश अपनी-अपनी राष्ट्रीय मीथेन कार्य योजनाओं को लागू करेंगे। एचटी ने 16 नवंबर को बताया कि अमेरिका और चीन, दो सबसे बड़े उत्सर्जक, इस सितंबर में जारी जी20 की नई दिल्ली घोषणा में व्यक्त इरादे के अनुरूप 2030 तक वैश्विक स्तर पर नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा क्षमता को तीन गुना करने पर सहमत हुए हैं। उन्होंने यह भी सुझाव दिया है कि इस दशक के दौरान बिजली क्षेत्र से उनका उत्सर्जन चरम पर होगा। वर्ल्ड रिसोर्सेज इंस्टीट्यूट द्वारा संकलित 2019 के आंकड़ों के आधार पर, चीन सबसे बड़ा उत्सर्जक है, इसके बाद अमेरिका और भारत हैं। हालाँकि, यह बयान जीवाश्म ईंधन को चरणबद्ध तरीके से ख़त्म करने या कम करने पर चुप है और संस्थान द्वारा दिए गए एक संक्षिप्त विवरण के अनुसार, कार्बन हटाने और पृथक्करण प्रौद्योगिकियों पर बहुत अधिक ध्यान केंद्रित करता है, जो अभी भी शुरुआती चरण में हैं और जिनकी प्रभावशीलता पूरी तरह से साबित नहीं हुई है। ऊर्जा अर्थशास्त्र और वित्तीय विश्लेषण (आईईईएफए) के लिए। जबकि G20 घोषणा में मीथेन का उल्लेख नहीं किया गया था, इसने उन देशों की सराहना की जिनके पास अर्थव्यवस्था के व्यापक लक्ष्य और सभी ग्रीनहाउस गैसों को कवर करने वाले एनडीसी हैं। चीन सबसे बड़ा मीथेन उत्सर्जक है, इसके बाद अमेरिका और भारत हैं। अंतर्राष्ट्रीय ऊर्जा एजेंसी (IEA) के अनुसार, चीन और भारत ने अभी तक वैश्विक मीथेन प्रतिज्ञा पर हस्ताक्षर नहीं किए हैं। यह प्रतिज्ञा अमेरिका और यूरोपीय संघ द्वारा ग्लासगो में 2021 जलवायु शिखर सम्मेलन में शुरू की गई थी। लगभग 110 देशों ने 2030 तक 2020 के स्तर की तुलना में मानव गतिविधि से वैश्विक मीथेन उत्सर्जन को कम से कम 30% कम करने के सामूहिक लक्ष्य के लिए प्रतिबद्ध किया है। आईईए ने कहा कि मीथेन का प्रमुख स्रोत मानवजनित स्रोत हैं, विशेष रूप से कृषि, इसके बाद तेल और गैस क्षेत्र और अपशिष्ट हैं। एजेंसी ने कहा कि मीथेन का वायुमंडलीय जीवनकाल कार्बन डाइऑक्साइड की तुलना में बहुत कम है (सीओ2 के लिए सदियों की तुलना में लगभग 12 वर्ष), लेकिन यह बहुत अधिक शक्तिशाली ग्रीनहाउस गैस है, जो वायुमंडल में मौजूद रहते हुए बहुत अधिक ऊर्जा को अवशोषित करती है। भारत ने मुख्य रूप से छोटे और मध्यम किसानों और कृषि क्षेत्र पर इसके संभावित प्रभावों के कारण मीथेन प्रतिज्ञा पर हस्ताक्षर नहीं किए थे। 2021 में राज्यसभा में उठाए गए एक सवाल पर कि भारत प्रतिज्ञा का हस्ताक्षरकर्ता क्यों नहीं है, पर्यावरण मंत्रालय ने कहा कि खाद्य सुरक्षा के संदर्भ में, भारत का मीथेन उत्सर्जन “अस्तित्व” उत्सर्जन है। भारत में मीथेन उत्सर्जन के दो प्रमुख स्रोत आंत्र किण्वन और धान की खेती हैं। मंत्रालय ने कहा था कि ये उत्सर्जन छोटे, सीमांत और मध्यम किसानों की कृषि गतिविधियों के परिणामस्वरूप होता है, जिनकी आजीविका मीथेन प्रतिज्ञा के कारण खतरे में है। वकालत समूह, सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने कहा, “मीथेन और सीओ2 दोनों महत्वपूर्ण हैं और अगर यह तेल और गैस क्षेत्र को उत्सर्जन कम करने के लिए प्रेरित कर सकता है, तो यह एक आसान परिणाम है।” “मेरी चिंता यह है कि हमारी दुनिया में कृषि से मीथेन को नियंत्रित करना आसान नहीं है क्योंकि यह जीवित रहने के उत्सर्जन के बारे में है और समृद्ध दुनिया में कोई भी मीथेन को कम करने के लिए आवश्यक आहार में बदलाव नहीं करना चाहता है।” औद्योगिक क्रांति के बाद से वैश्विक तापमान में लगभग 30% वृद्धि के लिए मीथेन जिम्मेदार है, और ऐसे उत्सर्जन में तेजी से और निरंतर कटौती निकट अवधि में वार्मिंग को सीमित करने और वायु गुणवत्ता में सुधार के लिए महत्वपूर्ण है। लेकिन, 1750 और 2011 के बीच जलवायु परिवर्तन में CO2 ने किसी भी कारक से अधिक योगदान दिया है। 1750 और 2011 के बीच वायुमंडलीय CO2 का स्तर 40% बढ़ गया। यहां पढ़ें: जीआरएपी-4 हटने से दिल्ली ने राहत की सांस ली, लेकिन ‘सतर्क रहें’: पर्यावरण मंत्री गोपाल राय, जीआरएपी-3 अभी भी कायम है एक गैर-लाभकारी संस्था, यूनियन ऑफ कंसर्नड साइंटिस्ट्स के अनुसार, मानव-संबंधित CO2 उत्सर्जन का आधा हिस्सा केवल पिछले 40 वर्षों में हुआ है। सामूहिक ने कहा कि अमेरिका के नेतृत्व वाले अमीर देश ऐतिहासिक CO2 उत्सर्जन के लिए प्रमुख रूप से जिम्मेदार हैं जिन्होंने जलवायु परिवर्तन में योगदान दिया है। “बढ़ते वैश्विक जलवायु संकट के सामने, कार्बन डाइऑक्साइड कटौती पर मीथेन उत्सर्जन में कटौती को प्राथमिकता देने का अमेरिका का आह्वान निष्पक्षता और व्यवहार्यता के महत्वपूर्ण प्रश्न उठाता है। क्लाइमेट एक्शन नेटवर्क इंटरनेशनल में वैश्विक राजनीतिक रणनीति के प्रमुख हरजीत सिंह ने कहा, यह रुख न केवल दीर्घकालिक CO2 उत्सर्जन के लिए औद्योगिक देशों की ऐतिहासिक जिम्मेदारी को नजरअंदाज करता है, बल्कि विकासशील देशों के सामने आने वाली अद्वितीय विकासात्मक चुनौतियों की भी अनदेखी करता है। “विकासशील अर्थव्यवस्थाओं में, कृषि, मीथेन उत्सर्जन का एक प्रमुख स्रोत, उनकी खाद्य सुरक्षा और आर्थिक विकास के लिए महत्वपूर्ण है। मीथेन उत्सर्जन को कम करने के लिए इन देशों पर अत्यधिक दबाव डालने से ये महत्वपूर्ण क्षेत्र खतरे में पड़ सकते हैं, ”उन्होंने कहा। “हमें जलवायु परिवर्तन के लिए एक व्यापक और न्यायसंगत दृष्टिकोण की आवश्यकता है जो मीथेन और CO2 उत्सर्जन दोनों को प्रभावी ढंग से संबोधित करे। इसे प्राप्त करने के लिए तकनीकी नवाचार, नीति परिवर्तन और, महत्वपूर्ण रूप से, अंतर्राष्ट्रीय सहयोग की आवश्यकता होगी जो सभी देशों की विविध क्षमताओं और जिम्मेदारियों का सम्मान करता हो।

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

दिल्‍ली-NCR में फिर गंभीर श्रेणी में पहुंच सकती है वायु गुणवत्ता : पर्यावरण वैज्ञानिक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी

दिल्‍ली में प्रदूषण (Pollution in Delhi) का संकट लगातार बना हुआ है. सर्दियों के मौसम में हर साल की तरह इस बार भी प्रदूषण से लोग परेशान हैं. वायु गुणवत्ता लगातार खराब बनी हुई है. अब यह संकट और बढ़ने की आशंका जताई जा रही है. दिल्‍ली-एनसीआर (Delhi-NCR) में प्रदूषण संकट (Pollution Crisis) को लेकर सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की कार्यकारी निदेशक और पर्यावरण वैज्ञानिक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी ने एनडीटीवी से बात की. उन्‍होंने आगामी कुछ दिनों में दिल्‍ली-एनसीआर की वायु गुणवत्ता के 'बहुत खराब' से 'गंभीर' श्रेणी में पहुंचने की आशंका जताई है. उन्‍होंने कहा कि अभी हमारे पास जो जानकारी है, उसके मुताबिक आज और अगले दो दिन तक दिल्ली-एनसीआर इलाके में प्रदूषण बहुत खराब कैटेगरी में रहेगा. उन्‍होंने कहा कि उसके बाद फिर से मौसम में बदलाव आएगा और तब हम शायद फिर गंभीर श्रेणी में पहुंच जाएं. चौधरी ने कहा कि प्रदूषण से निपटने के लिए हमें अभी से बड़े स्तर पर तैयारी करनी होगी. उन्‍होंने कहा कि इमरजेंसी एक्शन सिर्फ समस्या को रोकने में मददगार साबित होता है. पंजाब में बड़े स्‍तर पर मामले दर्ज किए दिल्‍ली में प्रदूषण का एक कारण पंजाब में पराली जलाने को भी माना जाता है. ऐसे में उन्‍होंने कहा कि पंजाब में पराली जलाने की घटनाएं कम हुई हैं, पुलिस ने बड़े स्तर पर मामले भी दर्ज किए हैं. पंजाब में पराली जलाने वाले किसानों पर फाइन लगाया गया है. साथ ही उन्‍होंने सवाल किया कि आप दिल्ली में कितने एसयूवी ड्राइवरों पर फाइन लगा रहे हैं? समाधान है, लेकिन लागू नहीं कर पा रहे इसके साथ ही उन्‍होंने कहा कि दिल्ली एनसीआर इलाके में प्रदूषण का संकट बना हुआ है, क्योंकि पंजाब में पराली जलाने की घटनाएं नहीं रुक पा रही हैं. इसकी वजह है कि हमारे पास समाधान तो है, लेकिन बड़े पैमाने पर हम इसको लागू नहीं कर पा रहे हैं. पंजाब में विशेष मशीन आई हैं, लेकिन हर किसान के पास हमें इसे कम कीमत और समय पर पहुंचाना होगा.

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

High levels of black carbon emission sets off alarm bells in Guwahati

A large chunk of the population in Assam is breathing toxic air, with Guwahati topping th chart of the highest polluted cities in the state and also having one of the highest black carbon emissions in the country The idea of clear blue skies and clean air in this part of the country is in danger as a result of the ongoing problem of air pollution in Assam and other northeastern states, according to a new warning from the Delhibased Centre of Science and Environment. Assam's five non-attainment cities -- Guwahati, Nagaon, Silchar, Sivasagar and Nalbari -- have been identified by the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). These cities' pollution levels are higher than the recommended air quality guidelines. Accordingly, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been initiated to develop action plans to bring down the fine particulate matter (like PM10 and PM2.5) by 20-30% within a stipulated time frame. An emission inventory study has been initiated for Guwahati city, wherein the contribution of pollutants from different sectors like commercial, transportation, domestic and industrial sources shall be estimated. Black carbon is just next to carbon dioxide in global warming potential and has an effect on global climate. Rajarshi Sharma, a research scholar of the Air & Noise Research Lab of IIT Guwahati headed by Prof. Sharad Gokhale, studied emission levels of black carbon and found that fossil fuel burning (from transportation, industries, kerosene lamps for lighting in residential use) is responsible for about 60% of black carbon emission, while biomass burning (from firewood for residential use, cropland burning, forest fires, slash burning) contribute to about 40%. The total emission of black carbon is about 19.38 Gigagram (Gg) during 2018-19, of which 3.38 Gg is from Kamrup Metropolitan district only, which is also the highest black carbon emitting district. The unplanned and open burning of solid waste disposal within the municipal boundary is the other factor hurting Guwahati. The quantity of harmful chemicals and black carbon released by burning waste materials is something that most people are unaware of. According to a state government official, Guwahati has one of the highest levels of black carbon pollution in the world, which is concerning. In a study conducted close to Guwahati's metropolitan highways, Ardhendu Shekhar Chaudhury, another researcher from IIT-G, discovered that the average amount of black carbon present at the breathing level during the winter is roughly 32 micrograms per cubic meter Prof Gokhale told that the air pollution scenario in Assam is not as grave as Delhi today but is certainly alarming as the levels of fine particles are rising. "There is a need for public awareness of its harmful health effects and practically adaptable solutions to reduce the particle levels and minimize the damage to human health as well as the climate of the region," he added. In the hills and valleys of the northeastern states, the high levels of air pollution brought on by widespread motorization, traffic jams, and the usage of solid fuel are creating a public health emergency. Even worse, despite a slow worsening in air quality, little public attention has been drawn to it as of yet. The wintertime air pollution in Guwahati is on par with that of several other Uttar Pradesh cities. Even smaller cities have substantial levels of pollution. According to Parthankar Choudhury, a professor of ecology and environmental science at Assam University in Silchar, the amount of particle matter in the ambient air has been increasing over time. "More research projects need to be carried out on the respiratory distress and other health ailments caused due to air pollution," he added. In the present scenario, various construction works are going on in and around Guwahati, which may be responsible for the increase in concentrations of PM10. However, this increase is temporary in nature because, after the completion of the construction works, e.g., a flyover, the vehicle flow will be smooth with less congestion which will eventually lead to lesser pollutant levels in the long run

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Anumita Roy Chaudhary ने कहा- हर किसान तक पराली के लिए मशीन नहीं पहुंच पाया है, कीमत कम होनी चाहिए

पंजाब में पुलिस की सख्ती और सक्रियता के बावजूद शनिवार और रविवार को कुल 1377 पराली जलाने की घटनाएं दर्ज़ की गयीं. इसकी वजह से दिल्ली-एनसीआर इलाके में प्रदूषण का संकट "Very Poor" केटेगरी में बना हुआ है. 23 नवम्बर के बाद दिल्ली-एनसीआर में मौसम में बदलाव का पूर्वानुमान है जिस वजह से इसके फिर से "Severe" केटेगरी में पहुंचने की आशंका है. इस मुद्दे पर एनडीटीवी ने Centre for Science and Environment's Executive Director Anumita Roy Chaudhary से बात की.

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

High levels of black carbon emission sets off alarm bells in Guwahati

A large chunk of the population in Assam is breathing toxic air, with Guwahati topping the chart of the highest polluted cities in the state and also having one of the highest black carbon emissions in the country. The idea of clear blue skies and clean air in this part of the country is in danger as a result of the ongoing problem of air pollution in Assam and other northeastern states, according to a new warning from the Delhi-based Centre of Science and Environment. Assam's five non-attainment cities -- Guwahati, Nagaon, Silchar, Sivasagar and Nalbari -- have been identified by the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). These cities' pollution levels are higher than the recommended air quality guidelines. Accordingly, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been initiated to develop action plans to bring down the fine particulate matter (like PM10 and PM2.5) by 20-30 per cent within a stipulated time frame. An emission inventory study has been initiated for Guwahati city, wherein the contribution of pollutants from different sectors like commercial, transportation, domestic and industrial sources shall be estimated. Black carbon is just next to carbon dioxide in global warming potential and has an effect on global climate. Rajarshi Sharma, a research scholar of the Air & Noise Research Lab of IIT Guwahati headed by Prof. Sharad Gokhale, studied emission levels of black carbon and found that fossil fuel burning (from transportation, industries, kerosene lamps for lighting in residential use) is responsible for about 60 per cent of black carbon emission, while biomass burning (from firewood for residential use, cropland burning, forest fires, slash burning) contribute to about 40 per cent. The total emission of black carbon is about 19.38 Gigagram (Gg) during 2018-19, of which 3.38 Gg is from Kamrup Metropolitan district only, which is also the highest black carbon emitting district. The unplanned and open burning of solid waste disposal within the municipal boundary is the other factor hurting Guwahati. The quantity of harmful chemicals and black carbon released by burning waste materials is something that most people are unaware of. According to a state government official, Guwahati has one of the highest levels of black carbon pollution in the world, which is concerning. In a study conducted close to Guwahati's metropolitan highways, Ardhendu Shekhar Chaudhury, another researcher from IIT-G, discovered that the average amount of black carbon present at the breathing level during the winter is roughly 32 micrograms per cubic meter. Prof Gokhale told IANS that the air pollution scenario in Assam is not as grave as Delhi today but is certainly alarming as the levels of fine particles are rising. “There is a need for public awareness of its harmful health effects and practically adaptable solutions to reduce the particle levels and minimize the damage to human health as well as the climate of the region,” he added. In the hills and valleys of the northeastern states, the high levels of air pollution brought on by widespread motorization, traffic jams, and the usage of solid fuel are creating a public health emergency. Even worse, despite a slow worsening in air quality, little public attention has been drawn to it as of yet. The wintertime air pollution in Guwahati is on par with that of several other Uttar Pradesh cities. Even smaller cities have substantial levels of pollution. According to Parthankar Choudhury, a professor of ecology and environmental science at Assam University in Silchar, the amount of particle matter in the ambient air has been increasing over time. “More research projects need to be carried out on the respiratory distress and other health ailments caused due to air pollution,” he added. In the present scenario, various construction works are going on in and around Guwahati, which may be responsible for the increase in concentrations of PM10. However, this increase is temporary in nature because, after the completion of the construction works, e.g., a flyover, the vehicle flow will be smooth with less congestion which will eventually lead to lesser pollutant levels in the long run.

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Gujarat built the world’s first air pollution market. Lessons learned so far

India faces the world’s worst air pollution crisis, with billions of people constantly exposed to unhealthy levels of ambient PM 2.5 (the most harmful pollutant in the air). In 2022, several Indian cities ranked as the most polluted cities in the world. Today, in 2023, the air quality in India’s capital has plummeted to a ‘severe plus’ category, making Delhi the most polluted city in the country. This appalling decline in air quality and awareness of its ill effects on the health and development sectors in India is driving effective innovation in public governance with the support of the private sector. Pollution control markets have been widely credited with reducing pollution in many regions across the world. For instance, in the United States, between 1980 and 2003, the introduction of the US Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) dramatically reduced the pollution caused by sulfur dioxide in the air by 40%. Trading markets have been adopted ever since for reducing pollutants in Canada and Europe, but never before to tackle particulate pollution in the air. India launches the world’s first-ever market for particulate emissions In 2019, the Government of Gujarat launched the world’s first-ever market for trading in particulate matter emissions in the city of Surat. The project called the Emission Trading Scheme, aims to reduce air pollution by allowing industries to ‘buy and sell’ permits for emitting particulate matter. Show Full Article This pilot project was first conceptualized by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change in 2012. To execute the ETS, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board partnered with renowned researchers from leading academic institutions worldwide, including the University of Chicago, Yale University and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Simply put, businesses that emit more particulate matter than allowed, must buy permits from businesses that emit less. This approach ensures that businesses and industries that are heavy polluters bear a higher cost – a principle that champions financial commitment as a means to incentivize cleaner practices. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board plays a central role in this by setting a cap on the total volume of particulate matter (PM) emissions permitted for participating industries. This cap is based on the historical emissions data collected by the Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems. Why was the ETS pilot project launched in Gujarat? Gujarat is one of the most industrialized states in India, with a large concentration of energy-intensive industrial sectors, such as iron and steel, petrochemicals, aluminium, cement, fertilizers and power plants. This means that Gujarat faces a severe air pollution problem, especially from particulate matter, which is a mixture of fine solid particles and liquid droplets suspended in the air that cause various health problems. According to a recent study by the Centre for Science and Environment, Gujarat faced the highest winter air pollution levels in the last four years, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 73 micrograms per cubic metre, more than seven times the safe limit prescribed by the World Health Organization. ETS pilot phase in Surat The ETS pilot in the Gujarat town of Surat has shown promising results in reducing PM emissions and improving air quality. An initial analysis of the effectiveness of the scheme has projected that participating industries reduced their PM emissions by 24% (with an 8% margin of error), compared to industries that continued to be under the business-as-usual regulation. Unlike the earlier traditional command-and-control regulations approach that primarily focused on enforcing strict limits on emissions without placing any restrictions on the overall volume of pollution released, the new Emission Trading Scheme introduced a cap on the total pollution release, addressing a significant flaw in the previous method. ETS itself is a market-linked ‘cap and trade’ mechanism that operates under the polluters pay principle. Under the polluters pay principle, a compensation of Rs 200 per kilogramme is charged for any excess emissions over and above the permits held by a unit, at the end of the trading period. Participating units are also required to submit an ‘Environmental Damage Compensation’ amount, which varies from Rs 2 lakh for small units, Rs 3 lakh for medium-sized units and Rs 10 lakh for large-scale industries. Evaluating the ETS success story in Surat This project, however, did not materialize overnight; it underwent a meticulous trial phase. Mock trading was conducted for two months after the launch, allowing stakeholders to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the system. The evaluation of ETS leverages continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) devices across the state, which send live readings of particulate emissions. ETS takes advantage of this technology to track industry emissions in a transparent way. From a sample of about 320 solid fuel burning factories already implementing CEMS in Surat, half were chosen at random to participate in the first phase of a new emissions trading scheme (the intervention group, while the others remained under the status-quo command and control regulation. One drawback of the ETS is that it may impact businesses unevenly, depending on their emission levels and the cost of reducing those emissions. Consumers might face slightly higher prices for goods or services due to increased production costs or scarcity of rents for permits. After several months of mock-trading, plants started trading permits and the project was implemented in 155 industries in Surat on September 16, 2019. Following the end of the 2019-2020 financial year, researchers will measure impacts on particulate matter emissions among industrial plants, output, revenues and compliance costs. An initial analysis of the effectiveness of the scheme has projected that participating industries reduced their PM emissions by 24% (with an 8% margin of error), compared to industries that continued to be under the business-as-usual regulation. Expanding ETS to Ahmedabad and across Gujarat Following the encouraging results of the pilot of the Emission Trading Scheme in Surat, the Gujarat government is going to replicate the same scheme in Ahmedabad in two phases covering industrial clusters, Naroda, Vatva and Danilimda. Expanding to Ahmedabad, the Gujarat government has installed the Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) in these industry clusters to ensure that the prescribed norms are followed, failing which the entire industrial cluster will be penalized. The CEMS tracks emissions from the industries participating in the ETS scheme. The live trading among 118 Ahmedabad industries in the scheme commenced on 5th September 2023, marking a momentous feat in curbing industrial emissions and effluents in the air. India’s net-zero alignment with COP 28 With India’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030 and the forthcoming COP28 summit, the focus on financing climate has become critical. One of the topics that will be discussed at this summit is linking different emission trading systems and creating a global carbon market. While India is surely and steadily road-mapping its progress story with a $9 trillion economic opportunity by 2030, balancing its rising working-age population and growing trends for businesses to expand will be the biggest challenge. By introducing financial incentives and market-based solutions, polluting industries are expected to incorporate the cost of pollution into business costs and centralized decision-making. Without market corrections and a demand for robust air-quality-related research, heavy polluters will continue to pollute the air.

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

पराली, गाड़ी का धुआं, कंस्ट्रक्शन डस्ट... दिल्ली में जहरीले नवंबर के ये हैं तीन गुनहगार

इस बार सितंबर में ही प्रदूषण बढ़ना शुरू हो गया था। सांस और दिल के मरीजों को परेशानियां अक्टूबर में ही होने लगी थी। नवंबर आते आते दिल्ली ऐसी घुटी की प्रदूषण ने पिछले कई सालों का रेकॉर्ड तोड़ दिया। एक्सपर्ट के अनुसार इस बार अस्पतालों से जो रिपोर्ट आ रही है, उससे पता चल रहा है कि दिवाली से काफी पहले ही लोग प्रदूषण से जुड़ी समस्याएं लेकर अस्पताल पहुंचने लगे थे। इस सीजन में प्रदूषण की तीन मुख्य वजह गाड़ियों का धुआं, कंस्ट्रक्शन डस्ट और पराली का धुआं बताया गया है। गाड़ियों के धुएं, इंडस्ट्री और अन्य प्रदूषण की वजह से पीएम 2.5 का स्तर काफी तेजी से बढ़ा है। नवंबर के स्मॉग एपिसोड में पीएम10 का स्तर पीएम 2.5 से कम रहा। सीएसई (सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरमेंट) के अनुसार इस बार पीएम10 में पीएम 2.5 की हिस्सेदारी करीब 50 प्रतिशत रही। प्रदूषण में धुएं की हिस्सेदारी अधिक है। सीएसई की अनुमिता राय चौधरी के अनुसार नवंबर सबसे अधिक प्रदूषित महीना रहता है। इस महीने में तापमान कम होता है, हवा में नमी बढ़ जाती है और हवाओं की गति कमजोर होती है। इस सूरत में पंजाब और हरियाणा से पराली का धुआं जब दिल्ली पहुंचता है, तो वह स्थिति को जानलेवा स्तर तक पहुंचा देता है। पराली की वजह से 2009 के बाद बढ़ा प्रदूषण सेफ (सोशल एक्शन फॉर फॉरेस्ट एंड एनवायरमेंट) के फाउंडर विक्रांत तोंगड़ के अनुसार पंजाब सरकार ने 2009 में पंजाब प्रिजर्वेशन ऑफ सबसॉइल वॉटर एक्ट लागू किया। इसके तहत धान की बिजाई के समय को तय कर दिया गया। एक अनुमान के मुताबिक यदि धान की बिजाई अप्रैल-मई में होती है, तो एक किलो चावल लगाने के लिए करीब 4500 लीटर पानी की जरूरत होती है, लेकिन यदि इसकी बिजाई जून के मध्य में होती है, तो इसके लिए 1500 से 2000 लीटर पानी की जरूरत पड़ती है। इसी को देखते हुए पांजाब में 15 मई से पहले नर्सरी में धान की बिजाई और 15 जून से पहले खेतों में रोपाई करने पर रोक लगा दी गई। इससे पहले किसान अप्रैल और मई में ही धान की बिजाई करते थे। बिजाई लेट होने की वजह से उसकी कटाई भी लेट होने लगी। कटाई अक्टूबर में होती थी अब पूरे नवंबर चलती है। एक्सपर्ट के आकलन के अनुसार 2 नवंबर को इस बार पराली का प्रदूषण 25 प्रतिशत को पार कर गया था। पिछले हफ्ते यह 10 से 20 प्रतिशत के आसपास रहा। 2022 में यह 40 प्रतिशत तक गया था। सीएसई की एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार एनओ-2 के औसत स्तर में गाड़ियों के धुएं की हिस्सेदारी 2022 में करीब 60 प्रतिशत रही। यह आंकलन 2022 अक्टूबर के पहले हफ्ते का है। यदि पराली के धुएं से होने वाले प्रदूषण को सालाना स्तर पर देखा जाए तो यह महज तीन प्रतिशत है। ऐसा इसलिए क्योंकि यह 15 सितंबर से 30 नवंबर के दौरान कुछ दिनों तक ही अधिक होता है। जबकि सालाना स्तर में गाड़ियों की हिस्सेदारी अधिक है।

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

High levels of black carbon emission sets off alarm bells in Guwahati

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Assam: Guwahati Among Cities With Highest Levels Of Black Carbon Emissions In India, Warns Delhi-Based Advocacy Group

A large chunk of the population in Assam is breathing toxic air, with Guwahati topping the chart of the highest polluted cities in the state and also having one of the highest black carbon emissions in the country. The idea of clear blue skies and clean air in this part of the country is in danger as a result of the ongoing problem of air pollution in Assam and other northeastern states, according to a new warning from the Delhi-based Centre of Science and Environment. Assam's five cities' pollution levels stand highest Assam's five non-attainment cities, Guwahati, Nagaon, Silchar, Sivasagar and Nalbari, have been identified by the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). These cities' pollution levels are higher than the recommended air quality guidelines. Accordingly, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been initiated to develop action plans to bring down the fine particulate matter (like PM10 and PM2.5) by 20-30 per cent within a stipulated time frame. An emission inventory study has been initiated for Guwahati city, wherein the contribution of pollutants from different sectors like commercial, transportation, domestic and industrial sources shall be estimated. Black carbon is just next to carbon dioxide in global warming potential and affects global climate. Rajarshi Sharma, a research scholar of the Air & Noise Research Lab of IIT Guwahati headed by Prof Sharad Gokhale, studied emission levels of black carbon and found that fossil fuel burning (from transportation, industries, kerosene lamps for lighting in residential use) is responsible for about 60 per cent of black carbon emission, while biomass burning (from firewood for residential use, cropland burning, forest fires, slash burning) contribute to about 40 per cent. The total emission of black carbon is about 19.38 Gigagram (Gg) during 2018-19, of which 3.38 Gg is from Kamrup Metropolitan district only, which is also the highest black carbon emitting district. The unplanned and open burning of solid waste disposal within the municipal boundary is the other factor hurting Guwahati. Guwahati has the highest levels of black carbon pollution in the world The quantity of harmful chemicals and black carbon released by burning waste materials is something that most people are unaware of. According to a state government official, Guwahati has one of the highest levels of black carbon pollution in the world, which is concerning. In a study conducted close to Guwahati's metropolitan highways, Ardhendu Shekhar Chaudhury, another researcher from IIT-G, discovered that the average amount of black carbon present at the breathing level during the winter is roughly 32 micrograms per cubic meter. Prof Gokhale told IANS that the air pollution scenario in Assam is not as grave as Delhi today but is certainly alarming as the levels of fine particles are rising. "There is a need for public awareness of its harmful health effects and practically adaptable solutions to reduce the particle levels and minimize the damage to human health and the region's climate," he added. Particle matter in the air has increased over time In the hills and valleys of the northeastern states, the high levels of air pollution brought on by widespread motorization, traffic jams, and the usage of solid fuel are creating a public health emergency. Even worse, despite a slow worsening in air quality, little public attention has been drawn to it as of yet. The wintertime air pollution in Guwahati is on par with that of several other Uttar Pradesh cities. Even smaller cities have substantial levels of pollution. According to Parthankar Choudhury, a professor of ecology and environmental science at Assam University in Silchar, the amount of particle matter in the ambient air has increased over time. "More research projects need to be carried out on the respiratory distress and other health ailments caused due to air pollution," he added. In the present scenario, various construction works are going on in and around Guwahati, which may be responsible for the increase in concentrations of PM10. However, this increase is temporary in nature because, after the completion of the construction works, e.g., a flyover, the vehicle flow will be smooth with less congestion, which will eventually lead to lesser pollutant levels in the long run.