China was not among the ten countries with the highest exposure to PM 2.5 per capita in the world, a ranking led by India, a reality that according to experts reinforces the need for the latter to take concerted and ambitious actions that may be the only way to address a persistent problem that affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The State of Global Air 2020 report released earlier this week shows that China is now among the 30 countries with the highest exposure to pollution, but still bears a huge health burden due to demographic factors. China recorded 1.42 million premature deaths attributed to PM 2.5 exposure, compared with 980,000 in India in 2019, according to the report.
Together, the two countries accounted for 58% of global deaths attributed to PM2.5 pollution in 2019. But there is a significant improvement in China’s air quality over the past 5 to 7 years, which is now captured using images. satellite. Average annual PM 2.5 concentrations in China ranged from 45 to 75 micrograms per cubic meter in 2019 compared to 75 to more than 85 micrograms per cubic meter in India.
SOGA 2020 published by the US-based Health Effects Institute and the Global Burden of Disease project underscored that these improvements are primarily due to the meticulous implementation of its five-year air pollution plan and targets. China implemented the first comprehensive five-year plan to improve air quality between 2013 and 2017, and subsequent plans have continued to address air pollution.
Between 2010 and 2019, outdoor PM2.5 levels in China decreased by 30%, largely due to actions taken over the past 5 to 7 years, including a switch from coal to gas in the residential and residential sectors. industrial and a reduction in industrial emissions. “However, the recent economic slowdown and related increases in coal-burning capacity are feared to continue to pose challenges with regard to air pollution control,” he said.
India launched its National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in January 2019. NCAP does not have a legal mandate, but aims to achieve a 20% to 30% reduction in concentrations of PM 2.5 (respirable particulate pollutants) above levels annual 2017 in more than one hundred cities. A big concern with India is also that the Covid-19 pandemic could slow down the implementation of various initiatives at the national level, including a complete change to BS VI vehicle emission standards and the compliance of thermal power plants with emission regulations. by installing pollution control equipment.
The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finnish-based think tank that closely follows the air pollution policies of China and India, said China’s Ministry of the Environment has already released a draft of air quality targets for this winter as air pollution began to deteriorate in Beijing. Targets have been published for key control regions, including Beijing, Tianjing, and 26 surrounding cities; The Yangtze Delta covers Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and parts of Anhui and other areas. India or the polluted region of the Indo-Gangetic Plains do not yet have similar annual targets.
The backbone of China’s national action plan is a comprehensive monitoring network of about 1,500 air quality stations that provide real-time data, said Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at CREA, while adding that improving air quality Air and compliance with industrial emissions standards are included in the performance evaluation of provincial and local government officials, which determines their career prospects.
“We need to control emissions at the source, which means changing our mode of transport to more public transport and NMT (non-motorized transport), installing efficient pollution control technology in coal-fired power plants, reducing emissions of industrial operations and shift our energy from polluting fuels of the past to decentralized energy sources that are more sustainable, cleaner and cheaper in the form of renewable energy, ”said Dahiya, adding that these must be combined with a strong implementation strategy.
“China’s average annual PM2.5 concentration was 47.7 micrograms per cubic meter in 2019. In recent years, China has focused its efforts on controlling air pollution. As a result, you’ve seen a steady decline in exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, a key measure of air pollution, as well as the use of solid fuels for cooking in homes. However, recent reported increases in coal burning capacity have the potential to pose ongoing challenges, ”said Pallavi Pant, a scientist at the Health Effects Institute. Sagnik Dey, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi said that “it is impossible to bring air pollution levels down to WHO safety guidelines in a few years. The United States took 30 years to achieve this. But we have to be very focused and ambitious. “
BOX:
WHAT CHINA DOES WELL
Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, and Patrick Schwarz, a pre-doctoral fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, documented in 2018 why China is winning the war on pollution in their analysis of the same title. .
· China published its National Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, a document similar to the NCAP in 2013.
· In 2014, Prime Minister Li Keqiang declared a “war on pollution” at the opening of China’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.
Using daily data from more than 200 monitors across the country from 2013 to 2017, the Greenstone team found that most populated areas saw improvements in air quality, ranging from 21% to 42%.
· If these reductions are sustained, the average Chinese citizen would see their life expectancy increase by 2.4 years relative to 2013, Greenstone said.
· China invested around $ 270 billion in the plan with a focus on the densely populated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Pearl and Yangtze River Delta regions, respectively.
Beijing, which had also set aside $ 120 billion to fight pollution, had a goal of reducing PM2.5 levels to less than 60 micrograms per cubic meter, or a 34% decrease from their 2013 levels.
· The plan committed to meeting these goals by reducing dependence on coal, controlling vehicle emissions, increasing renewable energy generation, and increasing the application of emission standards.
India:
• India launched its National Clean Air Program in 2019, which aims to achieve a 20% to 30% reduction in concentrations of PM 2.5 (respirable pollutant particles) from annual levels in 2017 in more than 100 cities
• India introduced BS VI fuel emission standards by omitting BS V standards entirely.
• Most brick kilns in NCR states have switched to high-efficiency, low-emission zig-zag technology
• Delhi has implemented a Gradual Response Action Plan (GRAP) that ensures that various emergency measures are taken when air pollution levels exceed a certain threshold in the capital.
• India has introduced a number of other measures such as subsidizing the use of LPG under the Ujjwala scheme, promoting electric vehicles and various other city-specific interventions.
• According to the Central Pollution Control Board, in Delhi there is a reduction of around 20% in annual concentrations of PM 2.5 from 2016 to 2019 and a reduction of 25% in concentrations of PM 10.
.
