The Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre (CCAPC) has released a policy brief on household air pollution entitled The Contribution of Household Fuels to Ambient Air Pollution in India- A Comparison of Recent Estimates. (details)
An article in The Wire by Dr. Santosh Harish and Dr. Sarath Guttikunda, both involved in creation of the policy brief, argues that “while the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is an important effort, there are many barriers to LPG uptake that won’t go away when simply presented with alternatives.”
Excerpt
Even the lowest of the estimates of contribution of HAP to ambient air pollution indicates that household sources contribute to a significant portion of the large public health burden from ambient air pollution. Across all studies, HAP contribution to average air pollution exposure in India is estimated to be about 60% higher than all coal use, 4x higher than open burning, and 11x higher than transportation in India. Critically, this is in addition to the substantial risk households experience directly from the combustion of these fuels. Put another way, in addition to the 800,000 premature deaths annually due to indoor exposure to HAP, approximately another 300,000 (30% of one million) can be attributed to HAP due to outdoor exposure. Cleaning up household fuel use thus both directly benefits those exposed to HAP and has broader population benefits by reducing ambient air pollution.
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