Over 490m tons of harmful gases polluting air in Pakistan

Author: Muhammad Faisal Kaleem

As many as 490 million tons of different greenhouse gases emissions being discharged from coal power plants that causes gross air pollution in the country, Daily Times has learnt reliably.

According to a document of the climate change ministry submitted at the National Assembly (NA) the emissions come from different fields related to the power and energy included as energy, electricity generation, and electricity generation from coal.

The document suggests that 218.94 million tons of emissions are in the energy sector, 53.40 million tons in electricity generation and 8.05 million tons emissions are being transpired from electricity generation from coal.

Besides these greenhouse emissions, the document said, other short-lived air pollution including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are also being released in the air during power generation from coal which also causes air pollution especially in the surroundings that power generation facilitates.

To cope with this issue, the ministry of climate change has initiated National Air Clear Policy (NACP). As per policy, the challenge of ever increasing air pollution as well as recurring smog in major cities of the country would be addressed. It aims to improve the health of citizens, reduce annual deaths due to air pollution, improve food security and to expand economic activity.

Under the plan, the NCAP will reduce PM 2.5 emission by 38 percent by 2030 compared to the baseline scenario and by 21 percent compared to 2020 levels by 2040. The policy further determined that in transport the euro 5 and euro 6 fuel quality standards will be implemented throughout the country, enforcement of emissions standards will be ensured in the industries in letter and spirit, burning of residues in the agriculture sector and open burning of municipal solid waste would be banned completely. Through this policy, as per ministry of climate change, key interventions will achieve even larger emission reductions, reducing emissions by 81 percent.

Earlier, minister for climate change Sherry Rehman informed the house that as per an international report Pakistan has been ranked globally in the top ten countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years owing to its geographical location while the country lost 0.53 percent per unit GDP, extreme weather events from 1999 to 2018.

She mentioned the reports that warned that Pakistan might face economic losses of 9. 1 decrease in its GDP, dry days can be increased, and 77 percent agriculture production could be affected if some adequate policy is not formulated in this regard.

The minister recalled that more than 33 million people have been affected by floods last year while a large number of citizens in different areas, particularly in Balochistan, Jacobabad, Nawabshah and Sibi, were badly affected by heat weave. Besides this, she stated that fire ragged the Koh-e-Sulaiman Range were more than 100,00 native chilgoza trees were burnt while annual earnings from these trees were about Rs 3 billion.

Rehman said that despite a meager overall contribution to greenhouse gases in the country was greatly affected by climate threats including waste stress, desertification glacier melting, extreme weather events and spread of diseases, adding that these treats pose severe challenges to the country in terms of ecology, agriculture, economic development and sustainability of no visual benefit.