At the Indian Clean Air Summit 2024 organized by CSTEP in Bengaluru, Ashish Tiwari (IFS, Secretary, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, UP Govt) said many important things about what improvements can be made in the National Clean Air Program. During this, he said that the National Clean Air Program needs to focus not only on a few cities but also on larger parts of the country by expanding its scope. During this, he emphasized on the comprehensive strategy of adopting an airshed approach. He said that schemes like PM Suryodaya Yojana, and Solar Rooftop are bringing positivity towards reducing air pollution. Apart from this, the Uttar Pradesh government is also taking many positive steps towards the green budget.

In the program, he said that to reduce air pollution, we also need to focus on the regional direction. This will help in controlling invisible pollutants like black carbon etc. that pollute the atmosphere. During this, he also said that pollution can be controlled rapidly with vigilant, planned, and coordinated efforts.

Apart from this, in the program, Anumita Roy Choudhary (Executive Director, of Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment) talked about the dangers of black carbon to the environment. She said that science is telling us that some types of particulate matter such as black carbon can heat the atmosphere more than CO2. Black carbon is directly affecting the process of natural cloud formation. Its effect is also seen in the rain pattern.

Black carbon is emitted due to the burning of fossil fuels, biomass, and garbage. Black carbon is having a bad effect on health, the environment, and nature. CSTEP, in collaboration with Clean Air Science, launched a policy brief when COP28 was organized. Its title was 'The Case for Action on Black Carbon'.

In the program, Anumita said that black carbon is a type of particulate matter. Due to this, the World Health Organization or any other organization does not have a monitoring strategy for black carbon. In the program, Aarti Khosla (Founder and Director, of Climate Trends) gave many important information on how air quality and climate goals are connected.

(PC: CSTEP)