‘INTEGRATING AIR QUALITY, CLEAN ENERGY POLICIES CAN CUT EMISSIONS’

MUMBAI: Integrating existing policies on air quality and clean energy in India can significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGS) up to 1.8 giga tonnes of equivalent carbon dioxide (Gtco2e) in 2030, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-bombay (IIT-B) said.

Two researchers from the institute — PHD student Kushal Tibrewal and professor Chandra Venkataraman— set out to assess the benefits (climate co-benefits) of air quality and clean energy policies in the country using multiple metrics such as the global warming and temperature change potentials. Their paper, ‘Climate co-benefits of air quality and clean energy policy in India’, was published in the Nature Sustainability journal on December 14 last year.

“We assess climate co-benefits of policies addressing sustainable development goals, specifically air quality and residential clean energy access, to identify which of these might yield significant climate co-benefits and, therefore, be candidates to integrate into the country’s climate action plan,” said Venkataraman, co-author of the study and professor in the department of chemical engineering and associate faculty in the interdisciplinary programme in climate studies at IIT-B.

The researchers found that policies on residential clean energy and air pollution regulation by curbing brick production and burning of agricultural residue have greater benefits than the policies on curbing emissions from industries and transportation.

For example, emissions control standards related to sulphur dioxide in electricity generation lead to reduction in sulphate particles. However, as sulphate particles are cooling agents in the atmosphere, their reduction can lead to warming. Emission standards in sectors like fired brick production and curbs on agricultural residue burning can significantly reduce emissions of warming short-lived climate forcers (WSLCFS). Integrating these policies can improve emission control, said the researchers.

“The focus of policy makers must definitely be on improving air quality in the near to medium term. The slow pace of roll out of the pollution control retrofits in power plants and the increasing prices of LPG in the post-pandemic period suggest that air quality has been accorded a lower priority,” said Karthik Ganesan, fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), who was not a part of the project.