Study shows India thermal power plants caused spike in SO2 and NO2 emissions

• 8 years ago (2016-05-24)
• David Flin

North America 1021

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A report by Greenpeace India has said that clusters of thermal power plants in northern India were the sources of growth in emissions of SO2 and NO2 in the past few years. The report, "Out of Sight: How coal burning advances India’s air pollution crisis", used satellite imagery from 2009 to 2015 to find areas that had thermal power plants were behind the growth in emissions of SO2 and NO2.

The report said that SO2 emissions increased by 31 per cent from 2009 to 2015, while NO2 emissions increased by 20 per cent over the same period. The report also said that the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) rose by 13 per cent.

Sunil Dahiya, one of the authors of the report, said that many studies have found that 30-34 per cent of the total PM2.5 concentration in the country was due to secondary particles. He said: “Most of these secondary particles are formed from burning fossil fuels in thermal power plants. It is no coincidence that the hot spots of SO2 and NO2 overlap with the areas with the highest coal consumption. We have established a clear link between thermal power plants and rise in pollution in the region. There is an urgent need to get emissions from these plants under control.”