A Breath of Change: Solutions for Cleaner Air in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills (Full Report)

Air pollution across the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF) has reached critical levels, threatening health and productivity for nearly one billion people. The impacts are severe: cardiovascular and respiratory diseases have become leading causes of illness and death, average life expectancy in the IGP-HF region is shortened by more than three years, and around one million people die prematurely each year from exposure to polluted air. The associated economic damage is estimated at about 10 percent of regional gross domestic product (GDP) annually, driven by lost labor productivity, higher healthcare costs, and reduced human capital. 

This Solutions Book, A Breath of Change, sets out a practical roadmap for achieving the region’s shared, intermediate target of reducing annual average PM2.5 concentrations below 35 µg/m³ by 2035 (“35 by 35”), while laying the foundation for progressively cleaner air. Building on the diagnostics and country experiences synthesized in Striving for Clean Air, the solutions book moves from why clean air matters and what drives pollution to how to address air pollution. In other words, how coordinated, feasible, and evidence-based solutions can be implemented at scale. The IGP-HF airshed, an interconnected system spanning 13 jurisdictions across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, demands solutions that are both multi-sectoral and multi-jurisdictional. 

Chapter 1 explains why air quality matters in the IGP-HF. Chapter 2 presents sources of air pollution. 

The Solutions Book highlights a portfolio of interventions in each of the five key pollution emitting sectors: scaling up access to clean cooking fuels and appliances in chapter 3; electrifying and modernizing industrial boilers, furnaces, kilns and thermal power plants in chapter 4; accelerating the transition to electric and efficient vehicles alongside improvements in fuel quality, and strengthening of non-motorized transport in the transport sector in chapter 5; promoting sustainable agricultural crop residue, livestock manure and fertilizer management in chapter 6; and improving waste collection, segregation, and recycling in chapter 7. 

In parallel, protective sectors, particularly health in chapter 8 and education in chapter 9, play a vital role in helping people cope while air quality remains poor. 

Cross-cutting themes are woven throughout the sectoral chapters, with deeper exploration of governance frameworks, market-based instruments and regional cooperation provided in chapters 10 to 12.