Despite drop in emissions, India still world’s highest sulphur dioxide producer
Context: For the first time in four years India’s sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions recorded a significant decline of approximately 6% in 2019 compared to 2018, the steepest drop in four years, according to a report from Greenpeace India and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
- However, India continues to occupy the top spot among emitters for the fifth consecutive year.
- The report ranks the world’s biggest emitters of SO2, a poisonous air pollutant that increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and premature death.
- In 2019, India emitted 21% of global anthropogenic (human-made) SO2 emissions — or about 5,953 kilotons a year — nearly double that of second-ranked global emitter, Russia at 3,362 kt/year.
Thermal plants
- As per the report, the biggest emission hotspots in India, are thermal power stations (or clusters of power stations) at Singrauli, Neyveli, Sipat, Mundra, Korba, Bonda, Tamnar, Talcher, Jharsuguda, Kutch, Surat, Chennai, Ramagundam, Chandrapur, Visakhapatnam and Koradi.
- Renewable energy capacity has been increasing in India’s power sector, delivering more than two-thirds of the subcontinent’s new capacity additions during the FY 2019-20.
- But most coal plants in India are lacking in flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) technology, which is necessary to scrub emissions clean off sulphur.
Deadlines missed
- In 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) introduced SO2 emission limits for coal power stations. But power plants missed the initial deadline of December 2017 for the installation of FGD units.
- Though the deadline was extended till 2022, as of June 2020 most of the power plants are operating without compliance.
- The data on sulphur emissions was sourced from the NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), a satellite-based device, that has been monitoring air quality from space since 2004.
- The device provides the geographical location and rates of emissions for hotspots for each calendar year.
- The catalogue is used to group the detected sources into four categories: one natural category (volcanoes) and three anthropogenic categories: power plants, oil and gas, and smelters.
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