Every winter, New Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) becomes a central talking point amongst mainstream media, policymakers, and on social media. However, the issue of toxic air goes beyond the administrative boundaries of Delhi-NCR and affects millions of people – especially those residing in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP).

On 14 February 2023, the European Parliament voted to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel CO2-emitting cars as of 2035, making headway in the EU’s “Fit for 55” package and the transition to climate neutrality by 2050.

South Africa’s Minimum Emissions Standards (MES) for combustion installations were issued in 2010, with a phased introduction where existing sources had to meet a more lenient set of standards by 2015 and a more stringent set of standards by 2020.

This report is a continuation of ‘Tracing the Hazy Air: Progress Report on National Clean Air Programme’ released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in January 2022.

Air pollution in Malaysia is caused by emissions from a growing number of sources from industrial manufacturing, power generation, vehicles, and open burning activities.

Coal based power plants are a major source of air pollution in India. After notification of emission standards for coal plants in December 2015, it’s been six years of sluggish implementation of the same resulting in huge health and economic damage costs.

This report “China Nationally Determined Contribution and Domestic 14th Power Five-Year-Plan” shows that power industry plans to build new coal-fired power plants after 2020 contradict China’s 2060 carbon neutrality target. The report calls for China to initiate a policy process to phase out coal-fired power plants.

Transboundary pollution in the surrounding provinces of Banten and West Java are major contributors to air pollution in Jakarta City. Air pollutant emissions both in Jakarta and in surrounding provinces have been increasing, worsening Jakarta’s air quality. Even with COVID-19, air quality in the capital city did not significantly improve.

According to the latest study released by CREA on behalf of the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GHCA), the air pollution in Bengaluru has dropped by 28% during the Indian megacity’s coronavirus lockdown.

On March 16, 2020, transportation and industries ground to a near halt in Metro Manila as the government enforced an “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ) in the country’s busiest metropolis. The lockdown was only one of the many across the globe that was implemented in an effort to slow down the spread of COVID-19.