PTI
New Delhi
Road transport pollution is a major public health burden in India, contributing to a premature death every six minutes and a new childhood asthma case every 34 minutes in 2024, according to a new report.
It added that Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) face a disproportionate burden, with the NCR accounting for 23% of the country’s road transport-attributable paediatric asthma cases despite housing only about 5% of the population.
The report, ‘Health benefits of zero-emission transport through 2050’, was released by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) on Wednesday.
In a statement, Linghzi Jin, senior researcher at the ICCT and co-author of the study, said, “The burden is starkly uneven. The NCR accounts for nearly a quarter of India’s road transport-attributable childhood asthma cases. These are children exposed to traffic pollution during their daily routines.”
The analysis also noted the outsized role of heavy-duty vehicles in India’s transport emissions profile. Although trucks and buses make up a relatively small share of the vehicle fleet, they contribute disproportionately to air pollution.
In India, heavy-duty vehicles accounted for 79% of tailpipe NOx emissions and 64% of tailpipe PM2.5 emissions from road transport in 2024.
To tackle the situation, according to the report, there is a need to accelerate the adoption of low- and zero-emission vehicles and phase out older, high-emitting vehicles through regulatory measures. This can prevent 1.7 million premature deaths in India between now and 2050, said the analysis.
“Accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles in these high-exposure regions is one of the most direct ways to protect public health,” said Linghzi.
