Pursuing a clean air agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic
In July 2020, CPR released a report on the impact of COVID-19 on India’s air quality governance. ‘Pursuing a clean air agenda in India during the COVID crisis’ by Santosh Harish and Shibani Ghosh analyses the outcomes of state actions in response to COVID-19 and its impact on the air quality discourse in India. The outcomes have been broadly categorised into three sets, each offering a different call to action: new opportunities to accelerate transitions; dilution of safeguards in the guise of incentivising economic recovery; and avenues for sustaining recent progress. In this short Q+A, we break down the findings of the report, and reflect on the road ahead for Indian air quality governance.
Q: What are the likely implications of the pandemic on how we discuss the impact of air pollution on public health?
COVID-19 has redefined how we perceive a health emergency: how immediate the stakes are, how harsh and swift the policy response should be, and how quickly the impact of the policies can be seen. While the ‘emergency’ framing of air pollution may no longer elicit the desired response from the public, there are other hooks that COVID-19 provides for the air quality discourse. One approach could be to emphasise air pollution in India as an “invisible killer”: a risk factor that has a long-term mortality and morbidity burden greater than COVID-19.
Q: What are the financial, regulatory, and institutional implications on air quality governance arising from the COVID-19 crisis?
Despite the recently introduced Finance Commission grants governments may now become less ambitious and undertake the absolute minimum required, citing paucity of funds and stretched resources as reasons for inaction. In terms of institutional implications, the state pollution control boards (PCBs) already have a high rate of vacancies in sanctioned posts and lack technically competent staff. The COVID-19 crisis may further affect the PCB’s efforts to enhance their capacity. Finally, efforts to restart the economy post-COVID should not weaken or undermine the existing regulatory framework. There might be a push for increasing the ‘ease of doing business’, particularly for industries that were closed during the lockdown. This has typically manifested in diluting environmental impact scrutiny and consent granting processes.
Q: How do we address the regressive environmental outcomes arising from the COVID-19 crisis?
Members of the civil society must firmly contest possible regressive environmental outcomes by:
Pushing back against the dilution of environmental safeguards, especially through the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2020.
Stressing on the unacceptable delays in compliance with power plant emission norms issued in 2015, and demanding urgent enforcement actions.
Pushing for greater transparency in monitoring, inspection, and enforcement data from the PCB’s.
Dissuading investments in projects that further reinforce reliance on private transport at the cost of more sustainable mobility infrastructure.
Q: Could COVID-19 provide opportunities to set a new agenda, or provide impetus to existing air pollution control measures?
The COVID-19 crisis can provide some of the following opportunities, which when harnessed, will allow us to lock-in infrastructure or accelerate behavioural changes that are well-aligned with improved environmental and health outcomes, particularly air quality:
Increase and better target subsidies to allow poor households to use LPG as their primary cooking fuel.
Shift away from paddy cultivation in Punjab and Haryana and ensure that alternatives (e.g. maize, cotton) are truly viable for farmers.
Channel the demand for vehicle scrappage policies towards the replacement of old, heavily polluting vehicles, especially trucks.
Sustain work-from-home and online meetings to reduce commuting, especially by private vehicles and cabs.
Retire old coal power plants so that newer or less polluting plants can meet a larger fraction of the demand.
(To learn more, read the full report using the link below.)
Environmentality is a collection of ideas, perspectives, and commentary by researchers at the Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the authors. They do not represent institutional views.
WHO guidelines are a clear nudge from the health sector towards the deep decarbonisation of our economy necessary to achieve both climate and air pollution goals. Placing public health at the centre of air quality management, coupled with a commitment to accountability and transparency in standard-setting, is the only way to ensure that the goals we set do not remain solely aspirational.