Combating Air Pollution: Strategies & Way Ahead

• China’s offer to share its clean-air expertise underscores the shared pollution challenge facing both nations. It presents India with an opportunity to enhance its air quality management through coordinated, data-driven reforms.

Air Pollution Landscape in India

• Global Ranking: India was the fifth most polluted country in the world in 2024, a slight improvement from third place in 2023. (IQAir Air Quality Report 2024)
• National Average: The national average PM2.5 level reached 50.6 µg/m³ in 2024, almost ten times the WHO’s recommended safe limit. (IQAir Report 2024)
• Urban Hotspots: New Delhi remained the world’s most polluted capital at 91.6 µg/m³, while Byrnihat in Meghalaya was the most polluted city in 2024. (IQAir Report 2024)
• Mortality Burden: Air pollution caused over 2 million deaths in India in 2023, mainly from long-term particulate exposure. (State of Global Air 2025 report).

Steps Taken by China to Combat Air Pollution

China has adopted a decisive, data-driven, and enforcement-oriented approach to combat air pollution, setting a global example in clean-air governance.

Administrative and Policy Reforms

• Performance-Linked Accountability: The central government added air quality targets to local officials’ performance reviews and tied promotions to pollution reduction outcomes.
• Inter-Provincial Coordination: The ‘2+26 City Cluster’ system empowered the central government to order simultaneous factory closures across several provinces during pollution peaks.
• Market-Based Finance: China introduced green finance tools like emission-control loans and blended funds to attract private investment for pollution-control projects.

Current Affairs

Industrial and Energy Transition

• ULE Standards: The 2019 ultra-low emission (ULE) norms required steel, cement, and power plants to install desulfurization and catalytic systems.
• Industrial Relocation: Between 2016 and 2021, China shut down or relocated 150 million tons of old steel capacity to less populated industrial zones.
• Coal-to-Gas Transition: Millions of northern households had to switch from “scattered coal” stoves to natural gas or electric heating to keep winter air cleaner.

Transport and Urban Pollution Control

• China–VI Standards: China quickly adopted the strictest China VI vehicle-emission standard, incorporating the best practices from both European and U.S. regulatory systems.
• New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Program: Government subsidies and license incentives made China the world’s largest EV market, with cities mandated to electrify 80% of new public transport fleets.
• Construction Regulation: Builders are required to wall construction sites, cover soil with mesh, and operate water trucks to prevent dust dispersion.

Monitoring and Ecological Restoration

• Multi-Tier Oversight: A three-tier framework integrates air-quality data, factory CEMS sensors, and local grid management for real-time pollution monitoring.
  • Over 2,000 air quality monitoring stations shared live data with the public, CEMS sent readings to the central ministry, and local officials were held accountable for each grid zone.
• Great Green Wall: The ‘Three-North Shelter Forest Project’ increased forest cover from 5% to 13% across northern China, while reducing dust storms and combating desertification.

What India Can Learn from China’s Clean Air Strategy

• Performance-Linked Funding: Enforce accountability by linking the release of central funds and bureaucratic promotions to meeting NCAP air-quality targets.
• Regional Airshed Authority: Extend the CAQM model to the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain and other multi-state airsheds to coordinate emission control and implement Low Emission Zones.
• Time-Bound Upgrades: Set a strict 24-month deadline for heavy industries to install Ultra-Low Emission (ULE) technologies like FGD, and halt new clearances in non-compliant regions.
• Grid-Based Accountability: Divide municipal wards into smaller grids and make one local officer legally responsible for all non-point pollution sources in their area.
• Clean Fuel Transition: Phase out high-sulfur fuels like petcoke and furnace oil, while offering MSMEs subsidised green loans to switch to PNG or electricity.
• National Green Finance Facility: Establish a central green finance platform using public funds to de-risk projects and attract private investment in pollution-control technologies.

Way Forward

• Performance Accountability: Link NCAP targets to officials’ evaluations and fund allocations to ensure measurable progress in air quality outcomes.
• Regional Governance: Establish a National Airshed Authority to coordinate emission control across multi-state pollution zones like the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
• Green Financing: Create a National Green Finance Facility to help industries and MSMEs adopt clean technologies through subsidised loans.
• Data Transparency: Adopt grid-based pollution monitoring with real-time public data and assign local officials direct accountability for results.

India’s clean-air mission must shift from fragmented action to collective accountability across all levels of governance, drawing lessons from China’s coordinated, data-driven, & performance-linked model. As PM Modi stated, “Climate change is a global responsibility that begins with individual commitment.”

Reference: The Print

PMF IAS Pathfinder for Mains – Question 407

Q. “India’s air pollution crisis demands a collaborative, data-driven and multi-level governance approach.” In this context, critically examine how India can learn from China’s clean-air reforms to strengthen its own air quality management framework. (250 Words) (15 Marks)

Approach

• Introduction: Write a brief introduction about air pollution.
• Body: Write about the air pollution crisis, how India can learn from China’s clean-air reforms to strengthen its own air quality management framework and way forward.
• Conclusion: Emphasis on an integrated approach with China’s policy discipline.