KARACHI: Researchers on Monday called for Pakistan to move from policy ambition to time-bound, financed implementation of the National Clean Air Policy (NCAP).
The call was issued by Fair Finance Pakistan (FFP) and the University of California’s Davis Air Quality Research Centre (AQRC) in their policy review titled ‘Air Pollution: A Solvable Problem Findings and Recommendations for the National and Punjab Clean Air Policies’.
In a statement issued on the occasion of the seventh International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, the partners stressed that ‘clean-air finance’ was not synonymous with broad green investment, and that public and private capital should support technologies and transition measures that demonstrably reduce population exposure to PM2.5 and emissions of particulate matter and its precursors.
PM2.5 refers to tiny airborne particles or droplets with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less.
Assessing the NCAP 2023 against the 2021 WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines, the review found that Pakistan had moved from policy adoption to the harder test of delivery. It identified nine structural gaps in the national framework and five in Punjab’s framework.
Air pollution in Pakistan is a year-round public health and economic emergency, not a seasonal smog problem, the brief noted.
Asim Jaffry, FFP Country Programme Lead and author, stated: ‘Pakistan does not need to choose between economic development and breathable air.
That means financing proven emission-control and transition technologies -not simply rebadging conventional green investment-and ending finance that locks firms and transport systems into polluting assets.
FFP estimates that about 43.6 million people nearly a fifth of the population live within 50 kilometres offossil-fuelpower plants,includingapproximately 15m women, 5.5m children and 2.8m older people.
Exposure erodes health, learning and productivity.
The NCAP’s modelling indicates that full implementation of its priority measures could avert nearly 129,500 premature deaths annually by 2040, generate about $24.6 billion in annual health benefits, and cut PM2.5 emissions by 38 per cent in 2030 and 81pc in 2040 relative to the baseline scenario.
The World Bank’s Pakistan Country Climate and Development Report estimates that air pollution and lead exposure together impose economic losses equivalent to at least 6.5 per cent of GDP each year.
Huma Iqbal, IVLP alum and air quality and policy analyst at FFP, also shared that clean-air financing must be tied to verified air quality outcomes and flow to interventions that can demonstrate reductions in emissions and human exposure, especially in the communities carrying the heaviest disease burden.
A subsequent World Bank appraisal for Punjab reported an average annual PM2.5 exposure of about 52 micrograms per cubic metre across the province more than ten times the WHO annual guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic metre with annual averages of 110-130 micrograms per cubic metre recorded in central Lahore.