Monitoring Industrial Pollution in India

Abstract

Many developing countries are attempting to prevent a rapid deterioration of air quality while still encouraging economic growth. In settings where state capacity is severely limited, enhancing the effectiveness of regulators is critical to success. Previous work has documented how Indian environmental regulators are constrained by having poor information on the pollution emitted by manufacturing plants, due to high monitoring costs, corruption, or staff constraints. This case study discusses a pilot project in the Indian state of Gujarat, designed to evaluate the benefits of Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) – technology used to remotely monitor pollution emitted by industrial plants in real time. We show how the institutional context in which CEMS was deployed, which included an inflexible legal and regulatory framework and collusion between industry and labs to falsify data, cannot be divorced from an assessment of the performance of the technology solution. The eventual benefits of CEMS in the status quo regulatory framework proved limited. Nevertheless, the technology also provided an opportunity to change the rules of the game, allowing Gujarat to experiment with India’s first emissions trading scheme.

Financial Impact of Air Pollution on BPJS Health Budget: Case Study of Financial Impact Due to Increased Health Claims Due to Air Pollution

“…Another study found that air pollution negatively affects labor productivity and individual consumption [29]. Furthermore, air pollution has been linked to reduced life expectancy, increased disease burden, and other health risks [30]. In the context of Jakarta, increasing green space has been proposed as a way to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions [31].…”