India, and especially its capital, Delhi, have been annual witnesses to apocalyptic-looking winters in the past half-decade. Delhi’s residents have especially gasped for air as smoke from paddy straw fires, Diwali firecrackers, industrial and vehicular emissions have besieged their city every year.
Now, the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report released August 9, 2021 has certified what we all feared: Air pollutants continue their meteoric rise across India and other parts of south Asia.
The concentrations of lethal air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ammonia (NH3), ozone (O3) and Particulate Matter2.5 are at their highest in south Asia, when compared to other parts of the world.