Worldview / India

Urban air quality in India ranks among the world's worst Air pollution has been ascertained to be India's most severe environmental problem. Emissions limits and bans on automobiles more than 15 years old came into effect in the 90's, but enforcement is the problem in the world’s largest democracy. Environmental legislation has been passed, but enforcement at the local level is the problem.

India has not signed the Kyoto Protocol. It ranks fifth in the world in terms of carbon emissions, behind the US, Japan, China and Russia. The controversy about it is not so much of its quantity, which is negligible compared to the rest (The US alone emits 6 times as much as India), but rather the mortifying rate at which it is increasing. In a little more than a decade, total carbon emissions in India have increased by 61%.

The country is extremely reliant on coal and extremely defensive of its coal-mining operations. This has led to its imposing heavy taxes (tariffs) on imported, high-quality coal but instead subsidizing its local, low-quality coal. This has led to an inefficient generation of electricity.

Within India however, lies one of the world’s largest solar-power programs. India is a very large nation, with a very diversified population. With over 70% of its population scattered all over the land in rural areas, hooking them up to conventional power grids prove to be extremely expensive and cost-ineffective. In such places, solar power has been proven as a viable alternative to conventionally generated energy. The huge capital investment required to build electrical grid layouts is not worth it.

India is also rich in wind energy. Turbines that supply energy have been added at an impressive rate. Together with solar energy, India is steadily moving towards renewable energy and away from the highly pollutive industries that have degraded worker health.