How Can India Tackle Air Pollution with an Airshed-level Approach? Lessons from Global Experiences

Overview

The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) of India stressed the importance of regional-level air quality management. An airshed is a geographical area frequently affected by the same air mass. As the airshed approach becomes critical to curtail air pollution in India, we must learn from global experiences of adopting it.

This study reviewed the airshed approach adopted by the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) in Mexico, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region in China, the Santiago Metropolitan Region in Chile, and the Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area (VTAPA) in South Africa, as they are similar to those in emerging markets like India.

Key Insights

• MCMA in Mexico adopted an airshed approach in the early 1990s through setting up a multi-jurisdictional body. The interventions prioritised the transport sector as the emission inventories showed it as the largest contributor to air pollution. It imposed weekly driving bans, mandatory biannual vehicle inspections and transitioned to cleaner fuels in industries. This, along with the consolidation of the informal bus services under the bus rapid transit (BRT) system Metrobús, resulted in a 89 per cent and 66 per cent reduction in SO2 and PM10 emissions in 25 years since 1990.
• China created the Coordination Group for Air Pollution Prevention and Control in BTH and Surrounding Areas in 2013 and set reduction targets under its airshed-level air pollution management in the BTH region. The key interventions focused on fuel transition from coal to gas in the industry and residential sector, and improved end-of-pipe control through retrofitting. As a result, the PM2.5 in the BTH region reduced by 40 per cent between 2013 and 2017.
• The Santiago Metropolitan Region in Chile implemented an integrated public transport system, Transantiago and imposed strict restrictions on fuel standards and phased out older polluting buses. This was coupled with transitioning to natural gas from polluting fuels. These interventions led to an improvement in the annual average PM2.5 from 69 ug/m3 in 1989 to 22 ug/m3 in 2015.
• The VTAPA region in South Africa imposed the Basa Njenjo Magogo (BNM) programme to curb emissions from coal burning for cooking and introduced various training programmes for capacity building of the government officials. There were also attempts to reduce pollution from industry and dust. However, the VTAPA region did not achieve any significant pollution reduction through these initiatives.

Based on the global review, authors recommend that India:

• Set up a multi-jurisdictional body/mechanism to coordinate between multiple stakeholders, as in the case of MCMA and the BTH region
• Have a practical airshed management strategy which includes a realistic and time-bound reduction strategy following China’s model.
• This should be coupled with fixing bureaucratic accountability through regular performance reviews and identifying funding mechanisms, including that of private support, following Mexico’s successful model.