Averting ‘Airpocalyse’

Crispy clear blue skies are a hallmark of winters; unfortunately, some major urban centres in Pakistan particularly Lahore have had theirs covered with thick grey blanket of smog. This deadly phenomenon engulfs cities like Lahore and its suburbs every year in winters, but the situation is more precarious than a seasonal occurrence. Lahore’s air quality as per the Air Visual’s readings and rankings remains bad throughout the year now.

Lahore suffers from poor air quality ranging from unhealthy to hazardous and continues to top the air quality index (higher the ranking, higher the concentration of PM2.5 particulate matter). Other cities like Karachi, Faisalabad also remain among the key polluted cities. A look at Beijing’s progress to combat dirty air can offer a lesson or two as to how the troubled city has reduced its notorious air pollution.

Smog in Beijing, China touched its peak in 2012-13 and it is the time when the country decided to put an end to the menace. First and foremost, the five-year journey has not been an easy one as the country has had to take tough decisions that impacted the demand and growth of the economy! Let’s compare China with what’s happening in Pakistan.

In 2013, China presented its action plan on prevention and control of air pollution. This consisted of draconian rules and measures that rather put a prohibition on various activities. First of all, China put a cap on coal consumption be it in the power sector or household demand, where Beijing saw its coal consumption fall by 50 percent between 2013 and 2018. Whereas in Pakistan, coal consumption has actually picked up during the same time period under new power projects.

Beijing had to opt for cleaner air versus increasing productivity, the results of which can be seen in slowdown of economic growth in China. The country-imposed output controls on steel, aluminum and construction projects to reduce smog from smelters, cement production and transportation pollution. Compared to this, such industrial and infrastructure activities have actually been more pronounced in Pakistan during the last five years, especially under CPEC
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China also created a new Environmental Protection Agency with tough enforcement powers. Pakistan too needs its Environmental Protection Department to devise and enforce stringent rules and regulations for controlling air pollution. Where the new government has successfully started the ‘Clean Green Pakistan Initiative’ and has revolutionsed green growth through 10 billion Tree Tsunami Programme, the government also needs to establish a consensus between relevant public and private sectors on the actions needed to improve air quality.

Beijing also cut the number of cars on the roads, a very prevalent source of air pollution. It placed a quota on new vehicles and fixed the number of cars sold in one year. On the other hand, car sales in Pakistan have gone through the roof in recent years where new manufacturing plants are also being set up.

Plus, the social sector used media and social media for a massive awareness campaign against the perils of smog and poor air quality in China, which angered the public and forced government to take some important decisions. A similar mass awareness campaign is required in Pakistan as majority of the people still don’t know how dangerous the air quality in most urban centres has become.

It took five years for China to see some improvement in its deteriorating air quality. What the authorities can take from China’s example is the outright banning of air polluting activities, instead of incentives taxes and prices and other ad hoc measures. Pakistan will have to bite the bullet too and compromise on at least a few fronts to safe the next generation.