UP tops list of states emitting fine particulate matter

UP tops list of states emitting fine particulate matter

Subject – Environment

Context – U.P. tops list of States emitting fine particulate matter: study

Concept –

• Uttar Pradesh is the largest emitter of PM2.5, the class of particulate matter considered most harmful to health, according to an analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
• The council, a research body, looked at five of the most reliable data sources — international and national — that have tracked and measured the quantum and sources of air pollution in India.
• The high emissions from U.P. were largely due to a significant share of PM2.5 emissions from solid-fuel use in households and, by virtue of being India’s most populous State, it had a higher proportion of households relying on this form of fuel.
• The five data sources used are: Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), maintained by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre; Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-lived Pollutants (ECLIPSE), maintained by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); Regional Emission Inventory in Asia (REAS), maintained by the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan (NIES); Speciated Multi-polluter Generator (SMoG), maintained by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay); and spatially resolved pollution emission inventory for India, maintained by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
• There are differences in the periods over which these sources track the emissions as well as the pollutants, but most track the important ones: PM2.5, PM10, NOx (nitrous oxides), SO2 (sulphur dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), NH3 (ammonia), and NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic compounds).