Air

For Delhi’s nearly 30 million residents, the coming weeks will test whether the city’s multi-pronged strategies can meaningfully reduce the haze that has become synonymous with its winters.

The study, published this month in Nature Communications, Earth and Environment, says East Asian efforts to reduce atmospheric aerosols was likely to have accelerated global surface warming since around 2010.

Bhutan stands at a crossroads between survival and sacrifice, tradition and transformation. Its model is not perfect—but it offers the world something rare: a vision of development that does not cost the Earth.

Factors that affect ozone generation include solar radiation, humidity, precipitation and the presence of precursors – substances that lead to the formation of a pollutant through a chemical reaction – such as methane, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

This smog season, AQI levels exceeding 1,000 have become routine, with Multan even breaching the 2,000 mark. Hospitals are overflowing with patients suffering from respiratory ailments, their numbers a stark testament to the invisible enemy in the air.

Cities like Stockholm, Kigali, and Bengaluru offer examples of successful waste management strategies that have drastically reduced open waste burning. These cities demonstrate that change is possible with strong political will, effective policies, and public engagement.

Nearly half of PM2.5 pollution in the worst-affected countries comes from the burning of fossil fuels, biomass, and agricultural waste – also major contributors to climate change. As extreme weather events worsen due to climate change, air pollution is expected to become an even greater threat, UNICEF warned.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched several schemes targeting pollution control, afforestation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable resource management.