A thick layer of smog and exhaust was the backdrop for some of President Obama’s recent trip to India. The toxic mix provided a visual reminder of what’s at stake for those hoping to improve air quality in India and reduce the globe’s overall emissions from fossil fuels.
The White House was hoping that a recent deal with China on setting ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions would sway India to take similar measures. India’s consistently growing reliance on fossil fuels has made it one of the most polluted countries on the planet. It is now the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and the air quality in New Dehli is the worst in the world, according to a 2014 World Health Organization report.
Ultimately the meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi did lead to some progress, though not a deal as sweeping as the agreement with China. The pair announced that a new overall climate deal would help India implement the Environmental Protection Agency’s international air quality forecasting system, phase out a class of widely used refrigerants called hydroflourocarbons, and meet more of India’s power needs with solar energy.
Photo credit: An Indian worker pushes a cart filled with soil for making bricks at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/ Anupam Nath)