Fixing India's air is achievable, but only with coordinated action

From vehicular pollution to construction dust, coordinated solutions exist. What's needed now is the will to act

There are easy problems, there are complex problems, and then there are the wicked problems. The easiest problems are those where we know the precise issue, we know the solution, and it is easy to assign accountability. The wickedest of all problems are those where the problem is ill-defined, and, therefore, so are the solutions. But North India’s pollution problem is neither. While it is easy to measure and fix accountability, multiple stakeholders work against one another. 

Fortunately for us, the political parties are explicitly united on reducing pollution. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had “halving Delhi’s AQI (air quality index) by 2030” as an election promise. And, even more fortunately for everyone concerned, the techno-economic-policy solutions to pollution are well known. So, then, where is the problem? Simply confusion on what to prioritise and how to do so. 

There are two ways to solve any problem: The first is to analyse the causes and work from the bottom up by eliminating each of the underlying causal factors. The other is to identify the technological solution and determine how institutions and incentives can be aligned to enable the full rollout of the tech solution. This lays out a method for the latter. 

Broadly, the pollution process is as follows: Economic activity gives rise to many emissions such as dust, nitrous or sulphur compounds, and particulate matter. These interact with weather conditions such as temperatures, humidity, and winds to increase, reduce, persist, or be removed from our immediate environment. 

All cities and rural areas create pollution. Delhi seems worse than many other cities because of its unique weather conditions. In jest, a Muskian solution would be to place large jet engines at a height of 500-700 metres, sucking up the pollution over cities like Delhi and throwing it upwards to be blown away by stratospheric winds. But unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately — that’s not feasible. 

We can’t just throw away pollution; we need to limit it, or the winter gas chamber created over North India will become worse as population and economic activity increase. I repeat what we all already know: The more we delay action, the worse this problem will get.

 

Source apportionment studies have now identified many different sources that add up to the total air pollution in Delhi. These differ by location, hour, day, month, and even year, but it is clear that to address pollution, we will need to address each source. That is, like Chanakya’s sticks, it needs to be treated as a collection of smaller challenges and addressed individually. Moreover, pollution does not respect state boundaries, and a large share of pollution over a region emanates from the regions around it.

 

Our objective, therefore, is to create a zero- to low-pollution (ZLP) economy.  First, as much as possible, we need to create cooperative solutions, where all of society, government, and industry come together towards a common target. Second, it needs to be a regional solution, in that pollution over Haryana is impacted by actions in Punjab. Therefore, the solution has to be implemented across as many states as possible. Third, the government will need to explicitly announce a timeline — simply an election promise will not be enough. A complete changeover with a five-year horizon would make for a great target and will help align all — government, civil society, and industry — to a common goal.

 

Fourth, we will need additional funds for this. For that purpose, state governments will (a) need to tax fossil fuels extra (since they cause the most pollution) and (b) levy other fees on polluting industries such as brick kilns.

 

And fifth, the central government can implement accelerated depreciation (of, say, 20 per cent) so that the capital costs of new ZLP assets are fully compensated for within five years.

 

Together automobile exhaust, industrial chimneys, construction dust, road particles (or dust), biomass burning and poor waste management are responsible for the bulk of the particulate pollution impacting North India. A combination of explicit orders supported by financial support and technology interventions spanning both the private and public sector can address almost all of these. 

 

Consider the question of how to reduce automobile exhaust, where two-wheelers, commercial vehicles, and four-wheelers all are significant emitters.  Fortunately, for two- and four-wheelers and even buses, electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids are attractive alternatives. But what would make large automobile companies stop selling fossil-fuel vehicles across North India in five years? A combination of mandates and accelerated depreciation could provide both the necessary target date and the financial support for the changeover.

 

Then, there is the large number of fossil-fuel vehicles already on the roads. Here as well, a hard five-year timeline for current users to switch to ZLP vehicles would accelerate the transition to EVs. An exchange initiative or a tax break for owners of older fossil-fuel vehicles may also need to be introduced.

 

Second is the construction dust. Many construction sites have started placing a plastic or cloth cover over such sites.  Spraying water over all construction sites is also a relatively low-cost solution.  Moreover, since government projects account for a large share of construction projects, this would be easy to institute as a precondition for all contractors and public-private partnerships.  

 

Third is the problem of road dust. This includes small particles of dust, carbon black and rubber from tyres, and particles from auto exhaust. While moving towards low- or zero-carbon vehicles would reduce the latter, tyre and dust particles will never go away. This means we need a mechanism for the daily washing or vacuuming of all major roads and thoroughfares.

 

This would lead to higher costs for local governments, which they can easily recover by rationalising property taxes, at least for all new properties. Open garbage dumps are another case where local governments will need to get their act together.   

 

Fourth, many small, medium, and large industries burn biomass or fossil fuels. These include thermal power plants, brick kilns, and chemical plants. Many of them can be converted to electricity-based processes. For units that cannot be converted, there is no reason they cannot be shifted to other parts of the country where winds are stronger through the year.

 

Finally, a major polluter in the aggregate is the informal sector — biomass burning for heat and the tandoor, for example. These are by far the most difficult to change.  However, like all parts of the economy, even informal businesses conform to the environment in which they operate.

 

We need to start believing that we can fix this. 

The author heads CSEP Research Foundation. The views are personal