(1/N) How can #India tackle #airpollution, which kills over a million Indians a year? New @sais_isep research in Atmospheric Pollution Research highlights the importance of centralized, coordinated action:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1309104220302038?dgcid=author
@vikasmehta248 @KartikeyaSingh @UrbanEmissions

(2/N) India's air pollution problem is a wicked one: very high levels overall, pollution trapped in North India with huge population densities, multiple sectors contributing. Not just urban, either: village pollution levels are very high, too.

(3/N) In India, State Pollution Control Boards play a key role in pollution control. But pollution does not respect boundaries: it travels across India's states. This is our focus: to what extent is air pollution a cross-state problem?

(4/N) We create emission inventories for Indian states by six sectors - open burning, transportation, agriculture, industry, energy, residential. We use a source-oriented chemical transport model to identify pollution patterns across states for each sector.

(5/N) The result are telling: 47% of India's air pollution load is cross-state in nature. Percentage is over 50% for both energy and industry.

(6/N) Based on this, India needs to scale up - state-level authorities can only do so little to clean the air. Unfortunately, the current National Clean Air Program goes in the opposite direction, focusing on cities.

(7/N) In this sense, our research supports the "airshed" approach that the ubiquitous @GhoshArunabha @CEEWIndia and others have highlighted: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/it-s-time-for-a-democratic-demand-for-clean-air/story-tWqeNkifCq4xWPXW5GDyzL.html

(8/N) Make no mistake: this is politically a heavy lift. Indian states are extremely jealous of their autonomy, even where the consequences literally kill millions every year. There is an urgent need for the clean air community to get serious about politics and political economy.

(9/N) I hope that we can, working together, develop effective but politically feasible solutions. Our paper identifies the problem and highlights what needs to be done. But the really hard question is always HOW.