National Institutions and Reports for Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Monitoring in India

Air quality and greenhouse gas monitoring in India relies on statutory bodies, scientific research organisations, and national reporting frameworks. These agencies track criteria pollutants, measure greenhouse gas fluxes, operate ground stations, and publish periodic emission inventories. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change acts as the nodal administrative body coordinating these initiatives alongside technical institutions and state boards.

Apex Statutory and Regulatory Bodies

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)

• The Central Pollution Control Board was established in September 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
• It received statutory mandates for air quality management under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
• It sets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and enforces emission limits for industrial units.
• It maintains the national environmental data repository and guides State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) on monitoring protocols.

Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)

• The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas was constituted under the CAQM Act, 2021.
• It supersedes older ad-hoc bodies like the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).
• It holds overarching jurisdiction over Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh regarding air quality issues.
• Its directions take precedence over decisions of respective state governments and SPCBs within the NCR domain.
• It executes the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) based on prevailing ambient air quality levels.

State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees

• State boards operate field monitoring networks across industrial clusters, commercial zones, and residential areas.
• They issue Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) permits to polluting red, orange, green, and white category industries.
• They enforce stack emission standards and run real-time air pollution display networks in major urban centres.

National Scientific Research and Monitoring Institutions

India Meteorological Department (IMD)

• The India Meteorological Department operates under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), headquartered in New Delhi.
• It manages the Environmental Monitoring Programme, tracking atmospheric turbidity, precipitation chemistry, and background greenhouse gases.
• It maintains the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) regional stations in India, including the primary facility located at Ranichauri in Uttarakhand.
• It provides meteorological inputs and dispersion models used in urban air quality forecasting systems.

CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI)

• Headquartered in Nagpur, Maharashtra, CSIR-NEERI functions as a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
• It conducts national air quality surveillance, source apportionment studies, and carrying capacity assessments for major cities.
• It develops emission inventories and tests industrial flue gas cleaning equipment, domestic cookstoves, and green fireworks.

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM)

• Located in Pune, Maharashtra, IITM is an autonomous research institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• It acts as the lead technical agency for developing and operationalising the SAFAR air quality forecasting system.
• It runs the National Carbonaceous Aerosols Programme (NCAP-COALESCE) to analyze black carbon, organic carbon, and brown carbon fractions.

National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL)

• Located in New Delhi, CSIR-NPL acts as the National Metrology Institute of India.
• It provides calibration standards and certification for air pollution monitoring instruments and continuous emission monitors.
• It establishes primary gas standards for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane to ensure measurement traceability.

National Air Quality Monitoring Programmes and Systems

National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP)

• NAMP is a nationwide monitoring network operated by CPCB in coordination with SPCBs and academic institutions.
• It tracks four mandatory criteria pollutants at all stations: Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂), Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (PM₁₀), and Fine Particulate Matter (PM_2.5).
• It covers hundreds of operating stations across all states and Union Territories.
• The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), revised in 2009, cover 12 identified pollutants: PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, NO₂, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O₃), Ammonia (NH₃), Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni), Arsenic (As), Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and Benzene (C_{6H_6}).

Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS)

• CAAQMS units provide real-time, automated measurements of criteria pollutants and local meteorological parameters.
• Data streams feed directly into the central CPCB server to calculate the National Air Quality Index.

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)

• SAFAR was developed by IITM Pune and operationalized by IMD to provide city-specific, location-specific forecasts.
• It operates in metropolitan regions, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad.
• It provides 72-hour advance forecasts for air quality, ultraviolet radiation indices, and weather parameters.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Launched in January 2019 by MoEFCC as a targeted national strategy for clean air.
• Covers non-attainment cities that failed to meet NAAQS standards consistently over a five-year period.
• Targets a 40% reduction or achievement of national standards for particulate matter concentrations (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) by 2026.
• Uses the PRANA (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities) web portal to track city action plans.

Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Registries, and National Reports

National Communications (NATCOM) and Biennial Update Reports (BUR)

• India submits National Communications and Biennial Update Reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The reports present national anthropogenic greenhouse gas inventories covering energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU), and waste sectors.
• The reports calculate emissions across primary greenhouse gases: Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), Methane (CH₄), Nitrous Oxide (N_2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF₆).

Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR)

• Prepared under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of Article 13 of the Paris Agreement.
• BTRs replace the older BUR system, providing detailed tracking of progress made toward India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)

• INCCA was launched by MoEFCC as a network of over 120 research institutions across India.
• It conducts domestic greenhouse gas assessments and publishes sector-specific climate impact studies for the Indian subcontinent.

Important Facts on Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Monitoring

• The National Air Quality Index (AQI) was launched in October 2014 under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and transforms complex pollutant data into a single numerical index.
• The AQI calculates sub-indices for eight specific pollutants: PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂, CO, O₃, NH₃, and Pb, requiring a minimum of three pollutants (with at least one particulate parameter) for computation.
• India uses a 24-hour averaging standard of 60 micrograms per cubic metre for PM_2.5 and 100 micrograms per cubic metre for PM₁₀ under NAAQS 2009.
• The PRANA portal monitors physical and financial progress across all non-attainment cities covered under NCAP.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) runs the Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosol Characterisation project under its Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.
• The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme is coordinated worldwide by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) classifies emergency measures into four stages: Stage I (Poor: 201-300), Stage II (Very Poor: 301-400), Stage III (Severe: 401-450), and Stage IV (Severe+: above 450).
• The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides the global accounting standard used by Indian corporations to report Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions.
• Black carbon measurements across high-altitude Himalayan stations are carried out using multi-wavelength aethalometers by the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment.
• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Ministry of Power regulates the carbon credit trading scheme established under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022.