Record drop in NO2 levels due to Covid-19 janata curfew: Analysis
There has been a general improvement in the air quality across the world including in India as more and more countries impose lockdowns to check the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
The nationwide “janata curfew (people’s curfew)” on Sunday has resulted in the lowest average level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) ever recorded in the January-March period in since 2017, according to an analysis released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
According to Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at CREA, the fall in NO2 levels show that city-based transportation is completely dependent on fossil fuels.
“We have to work on delinking them. That’s our lesson from the lockdown,” he added.
Concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 have also dropped steeply but have not broken records, according to an analysis which sourced data from the government’s real time air quality monitors.
The main source of NO2 emissions is fuel combustion by vehicles and industries. NO2 emissions are responsible for a large number of child asthma cases and 16,000 premature deaths per year in India. It is also a key contributor to PM2.5 formation, according to a study by IIT Kanpur.
“The COVID-19 crisis is resulting in widespread human suffering around the world. Air pollution levels are plummeting in many countries as an unintended result of measures against the virus; this should not be seen as a “silver lining”, but it does show how normalised the massive death toll from air pollution has become. Once the COVID-19 crisis is over, there are far more effective ways for governments to address air pollution than shutting down large parts of the economy, such as enforcing emissions standards for large polluters,” the analysis said.
HT reported on Monday that there has been a general improvement in the air quality, including in India, amid lockdowns imposed across the world to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) , with the European Space Agency (ESA) releasing satellite images showing NO2 levels have plummeted drastically.
The levels of NO2 went down drastically during the lockdown period in parts of China, where the pandemic originated, and then gradually rose again in the past few days when the restrictions were eased.
In India, several cities otherwise known to record high pollution levels have recorded an improvement in air quality since Friday.
