The national capital ranks the worst among 14 cities in terms of how much urban transportation contributes to air pollution, says a CSE report.
New Delhi: Delhi ranks the lowest among 14 cities in India, below Mumbai and Kolkata, when it comes to pollution caused by transport-related emissions, a report by the Centre for Science and Environment has said.
Of the 14 cities studied, the national capital is the worst in terms of how much its urban transportation contributes to air pollution and how much energy consumption it requires, the report released Friday said.
The report focuses specifically on Delhi’s lack of initiatives when it comes to developing public transport other than the Metro lines.
“Bus numbers have dwindled to less than 5,500,” says the report, adding that “If more buses are not added right away, Delhi will not have any buses left by 2022.”
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As per the Master Plan 2021, the Delhi Transport Corporation is short by 10,000 buses. While the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party promised to fulfill this deficit, there has been no movement on it yet.
The study — ‘The Urban Commute: And How It Contributes to Pollution and Energy Consumption’ — included ‘megacities’ such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Besides, the study also took note of transport emissions in ‘metropolitan’ cities such as Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi, Bhopal, Vijayawada and Chandigarh.
Emissions
In terms of CO2 emissions, Delhi’s urban commuting (private and public transport) pollutes over 45 lakh kg per day, more than twice as much as Mumbai, more than four times as much as Kolkata, and close to nine times as much as the smaller metro cities such as Jaipur. Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad (in that order) follow Delhi to the bottom end of the pile.
Of Delhi’s daily 45 lakh kg CO2 emissions — primary heat-trapping greenhouse gas linked to climate change — almost half is contributed by cars alone, with a significant share also being contributed by two-wheelers.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a highly reactive gas which causes irritation in the respiratory system, is also emitted the most by Delhi’s urban commute — over 14,000 kg per day. Bhopal, Chandigarh and Lucknow make it to the top of the list in that order, while Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad once again follow Delhi to the bottom end of the grouping.
The report states that even though Delhi’s share of public transport trips in the overall motorised trips is a little over half — 54 per cent — “the 22 per cent modal share of cars and two-wheelers is still staggering as trip volumes are huge”.
The report further mentions that Delhi’s focus on road building and widening — using up 23 per cent of the geographical area has locked the city into an “enormous carbon, fuel-guzzling and polluting transport infrastructure”.
The picture, however, changes when one considers per-trip emissions.
Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kochi record over 0.2 kg per day per trip, while Delhi just crosses 0.1. This is explained by the fact that a city such as Chandigarh, despite performing well on overall emissions, will rank low on per-trip emissions due to a heavy reliance on private transportation. Kolkata and Mumbai are the best among the six megacities in terms of per trip emissions.
Energy
Delhi also consumes the most amount of energy to keep its transportation modes viable — over 80,000,000 MJoules per day. Smaller metropolitan cities such as Bhopal, Vijayawada, and Chandigarh (which are the best 3) require less than 20,000,000 MJoules per year.
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Toppers
In terms of the six megacities, Kolkata emerges the clear winner, with Mumbai also outperforming expectations given its population. The two cities have significantly lower CO2 emissions, with Kolkata ranking 1/6 and Mumbai 2/6 in the megacities sub-grouping.
The report attributes their success to a strong and “unique public transport spine, which is “well integrated with the existing land use patterns”. In Mumbai, public transport trips account for 78 per cent of the overall motorised trips, while in Kolkata it is 77 per cent. Kolkata also has short travel distances due to its compact form, and more people tend to walk in both cities.