INDIA'S QUEST WITH CLEAN AIR POST COVID-19

“It is the worst of time but it is the best of time because we still have a chance”

The whole country came to a lockdown on March 22 which was designed to stop the imminent spread of the novel coronavirus. Out of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 22 of them are in India. This lockdown has made a larger change in the country by dropping the air pollution levels to record low and making the air the safer version of what it was a few days back the lockdown. Not only our country but the same pattern has been shown in other countries following lockdown, for example, Italy, China, and the UK the pollution levels have halved. On March 22, when the whole country went into lockdown to eradicate the rampant coronavirus, on the same day, parts of India recorded lowest levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution ever recorded in Spring Season. The figures quoted by Real-Time Air Quality Index, in Delhi, particulate matter (PM 2.5) dropped from 165µg/m3 on March 21, a level which is considered unhealthy to everyone, to 64µg/m3 on March 29, a level which is considered moderate or acceptable. Similarly in Jaipur, levels decreased as well. This is the first time in 2020 that PM 2.5 has been recorded as low. While post lockdown India will be thriving for a better future and prioritizing health and economic recovery, there will be an opportunity for clean energy as part of coping strategies and support measures from this pandemic.

The Constitution of India under Article 51 A (Fundamental Duties, Part IVA) casts a duty of every citizen to protect and improve environment like the forest, lake, river, and Article 48 A (Directive Principles of State Policies, Part IV) provides for the State to endeavor to protect and improve the environment.

Some of the important legislatures for environment protection in India are-

1. The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010- It was made for the establishment of National Green Tribunal and speedy disposal of environmental protection

2. Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981- It is an act to provide for the prevention control and abatement of air pollution and for the establishment of boards all over the country.

3. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974- It is enacted to provide for the prevention and control of water pollution and to maintain the wholesomeness of water in the country.

4. Environment Protection Act, 1986- It provides for protection and improvement of environment and provides a framework for studying, planning, and implementing long term requirements for environment safety and laying down the system of speedy response to environment threatening situations.

5. Hazardous Waste Management Regulations etc. - There are many legislations that provide for hazardous waste management guidelines like the FActories Act, 1948, Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, and NAtional Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and many more. In December 2015, Paris Climate Agreement, India had promised to unconditionally reduce the emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product by 30-35 percent from 2005 by 2030 and achieve 40 percent of its installed power capacity from renewables by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. However, the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air has said that this should not be seen as a silver lining, it should be seen as how normalized the massive death toll from air pollution has become. There are far more things the government can do to address air pollution rather than shutting down the economy such as enforcing emission standards and the use of renewable energy and better emission and waste control policies. The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) released a study that has found that exposure to air pollution increases the risk of dying from COVID-19.

The report ‘Mapping India’s Energy Subsidy 2020: fossil fuels, renewables, electric vehicles’ has been prepared by two think tanks working on environmental issues – the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). It pointed out that the overall support has been decreasing, there still persists a significant gap between the usage of fossil fuels usage. The study also highlighted that the subsidies for fossil fuels are still over seven times than subsidies for alternative energy in India. The report suggested some implication for public resources and energy transition in India, in post-pandemic recovery phase that a crash in world oil prices can free up revenue to help tackle the crisis by temporarily eliminating petroleum product subsidies and enabling higher taxes and increasing demand to support energy producers.

1984 Geneva Protocol on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP) is one of the International conventions India is a part of.

In November 2019, the New Delhi pollution statistics reached its worst conditions and took hundreds of residents out of their home to protest against such a degrading atmospheric condition because of which the city was covered in dark yellow colored mist. The schools had to be closed and flights had to be diverted because of this. Five months down, the skies have now started to clear up. But the impact of badly polluted conditions has left the residents with a far bigger problem i.e. coronavirus pandemic which is a severe respiratory disease. India has the highest number of respiratory diseases and tuberculosis cases around the world.

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we have been ignorant of their value

The legislature has still not accepted the problem of environmental and air pollution rightly. It is the Nation Green Tribunal and Supreme Court that have been guiding on the better environmental policies for the country. Only the judiciary seems to be interested in the topic. Every year there are 1.2 million deaths because of air pollution alone. Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) is a Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region. It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986.

It is highly unfortunate that fossil fuels still continue to enjoy a larger share of subsidies than clean energy options which would only further challenge the achievement of our climate goals under the Paris Agreement. COVID-19 has certainly shown the world that what a crisis can do to the health and economy and how we should invest in public health more which means investing in the clean and renewable energy sector and not to focus on fossil fuels sources which cause the most damage to public health and climate as well.

This is lockdown has made us believe that the problem of air pollution is actually man-made and can be cured if we start using more renewable energy and let the consumption of fossil fuels become null and void. The government should change the existing policies to encourage more use of renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. It is often said that “Prevention is better than cure” and hence if still this problem is not prevented or acted upon faster then it will create a much bigger problem for future generations.

Pollution is going down but the price is the life of so many human beings which is a big prize to pay. We can at least use this outbreak and learn some lessons from it and start acting now. Its high time anyways. After all the effects of COVID-19, the clean energy transition can and should be reflected in coping strategies and support measures.