Covid lockdown-level curbs could help clean city’s air by 2040: Study

The Capital can cut its national annual average load of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 to reach the national ambient standard by 2040 if it undertakes emissions curbs equivalent to the levels seen during the Covid-19 lockdown, a new working paper has found.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Titled ‘40 by 2040: Cost of inaction and delays in reaching Delhi's air quality target’, the study looked at Delhi's PM2.5 concentrations across 36 years from 1989 to 2025. The analysis, carried out by air quality researchers Sarath Guttikunda and Sai Krishna Dammalapati from Urban Emissions, an environmental advocacy group, argues that a combination of up to 55% reduction from all anthropogenic sources, a 75% drop in winter heating emissions, anda 100% drop in stubble burning emissions can help the city reach national ambient standard of 40 g/m’ set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).