Work from Home: NCR air quality panel tightens winter pollution curbs

Ahead of winter pollution in Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) the Commission for Air Quality Management prepared  an ‘action plan’, the Hindu reported. Delhi will restrict the entry of vehicles registered outside the capital that do not meet BS-VI emission standards from November 1, while government and private offices will be required to have 50% of their staff work from home during the winter pollution season, the plan announced on September 28, stated. These measures were implemented in 2024 and 2025, too.

For vehicular pollution, the ‘No PUCC (Pollution Under Control Certificate), No Fuel’ campaign (where those without a pollution certificate will be denied fuel) will cover all 500 fuel stations equipped with authorised number plate registration. The system had detected about 7,055 BS-III and older end-of-life vehicles over the previous 12 months, the presentation said.

An exemption allowing trucks that are not BS-VI compliant and carry essential commodities to enter Delhi during extreme pollution has been withdrawn.

GRAP is a set of short-term emergency measures taken to reduce air pollution and is divided into four stages depending on the level of air pollution that exists at a particular time or is predicted for the near future.

'Ban waste-to-energy incinerators’: Maharashtra  waste-to-energy plant shut down after pollution complaintsA waste-to-energy incineration plant in Sangli, Maharashtra, was shut down following protests by villagers over alleged pollution and its impact on health and agriculture, reported DTE. The 10 MW plant, citizens' groups alleged, had  serious failures in pollution control, wastewater treatment and hazardous ash disposal. 

The report claimed that the plant's secondary combustion chamber operated at just 230°C, against a stated requirement of 950°C, raising concerns about potentially harmful emissions. Campaigners also alleged that untreated wastewater entered local streams, pollution-monitoring data was not transmitted to regulators and ash was improperly disposed of at multiple locations, the outlet said. 

Citing concerns about waste-to-energy facilities elsewhere in India, the groups have called for a nationwide ban on incineration and a shift towards reducing waste generation, the article said. 

No disposal proof, no clearance: How Gurugram plans to tackle construction waste

No proof for the disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste? No building occupancy certificate. This is how the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) plans to tighten the norms around the handling of debris in the Millenium City in a bid to combat dust pollution and ensure better waste management under a fresh directive, the Indian Express reported.

Binding timelines, compulsory recycled material quotas, and digital tracking are among the fresh measures introduced by the civic body after two orders were issued earlier this week by MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya.

“Effective immediately, the orders enforce the Environment (C&D Waste) Rules, 2025, Haryana's 2019 C&D Policy, and Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directives,” an official said.

Trump administration to slash clean car rules aimed at cutting climate emissions

Donald Trump’s government is  slashing clean car rules that had been aimed at reducing planet-heating emissions and boosting electric vehicles, reported the Guardian.

The move relaxes requirements on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks for model years 2022 through 2031.

The new rule reverses the Biden administration’s policy transition to EVs. Transportation is the largest source of climate emissions in the United States, accounting for about 28% of total US greenhouse gas emissions according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The NYT said: “Under the new rules from the transportation department, automakers will be required to achieve an average fuel efficiency of 34.9 miles per gallon for new cars and light trucks in model year 2031. That’s far below the standard of 50.4 miles per gallon set by the Biden administration.”

Reuters reported the government's stand that the new standard will cut costs for carmarkers, while raising fuel use and emissions. The Washington Post said “analysts are doubtful” that the fuel economy rules will cut car prices.

Improved air quality linked to better mental development in toddlers, study

Improvements in air pollution are leading to smarter toddlers, according to a new study from Columbia University in New York, the Guardian reported. 

For more than two decades,scientists at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health measured the air pollution exposure of pregnant women and the development of their children in the disadvantaged communities of northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. More than 1,100 children were assessed when they were one, two and three years old.

Scientists tested cognitive processing including memory and sensory perception, problem-solving such as matching shapes, stacking blocks and communication, both speech and language comprehension. In the early years of the study, we reported significant associations between prenatal exposure to air pollution and neurodevelopment effects in the children. Over the course of the study, air pollution in central New York improved massively.

Clean-air legislation reduced some pollutants from the city’s yellow taxis by as much as 80%. Fine particle pollution and levels of nitrogen dioxide halved between 1998 and 2016 toddlers' scores improved as the air pollution improved. This was especially clear when the children were two and three years old, and during times of sharper falls in air pollution. The researchers also found rapid declines in the proportion of children who lived with a tobacco smoker, which fell from 34% to 18%, and increases in maternal education, with a nine percentage-point increase in the proportion of mothers who had successfully graduated from high school.