New Delhi: Twenty-two of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India, with Delhi being ranked because the most polluted capital metropolis globally, a brand new report mentioned on Tuesday.
‘World Air Quality Report, 2020’ ready by a Swiss organisation, IQAir, which was launched globally, said that Delhi’s air high quality improved by roughly 15 per cent from 2019 to 2020. The report mentioned that regardless of the advance, Delhi ranked because the tenth most polluted metropolis and the highest polluted capital metropolis in the world.
“India continues to feature prominently at the top of the most polluted cities ranking, with 22 of the top 30 most polluted cities globally,” the report mentioned.
Besides Delhi, the 21 different Indian cities among the many 30 most polluted cities in the world are Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Agra and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Bhiwari in Rajasthan, Faridabad, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Bandhwari, Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak and Dharuhera in Haryana, and Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
As per the report, the top-most polluted metropolis is Xinjiang in China adopted by 9 Indian cities. Ghaziabad is the second most polluted metropolis in the world adopted by Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow and Bhiwari.
The international cities rating report relies on PM2.5 knowledge from 106 international locations, which is measured by ground-based monitoring stations, most of which is operated by authorities companies.
The report additionally reveals the influence of COVID-19 lockdown and behavioural adjustments on international particulate air pollution (PM2.5) ranges. Major sources of India’s air air pollution embrace transportation, biomass burning for cooking, electrical energy era, trade, development, waste burning and episodic agricultural burning.
“The transportation sector is one of the major contributors to India’s leading PM2.5 emission sources across cities,” the report said. Contextualising the global IQAir report in the Indian context, Avinash Chanchal, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace India mentioned whereas many cities, together with Delhi, have recorded marginal enhancements in air high quality as a consequence of lockdowns, the well being and financial price of air air pollution stay extreme.
He mentioned it’s pertinent that governments prioritise sustainable and clear power sources, in addition to the cities, have to encourage low price, lively and carbon-neutral mobility decisions reminiscent of strolling, biking, and accessible public transport.
“Speeding up the transition to scrub power and clear transport not solely saves lives but in addition dramatically reduces healthcare-related prices,” Chanchal mentioned.
“The year 2020 brought an unexpected dip in air pollution. In 2021, we will likely see an increase in air pollution due to human activity, again. We hope this report will highlight that urgent action is both possible and necessary to combat air pollution, which remains the world’s greatest environmental health threat,” mentioned CEO of IQAir Frank Hammes.
(With PTI inputs)
