The world’s first emissions trading system is being piloted in India’s textile hub of Surat . The emissions trading system is being piloted in the city of Surat, a densely populated industrial centre in western India where textile and dye mills release significant amounts of air pollution. Emissions trading will set an example for the world to curb air pollution economically and increase economic growth. It is a market based system where the government sets a cap on emissions of particulate matter and allows industries to buy and sell permits in order to stay below the cap . The project is a result of judicious and sagacious vision of people which ensures its success.
The GPCB is supervising the emissions trading programme with the help of far sighted and innovative team of researchers, including Ryan and Rohini Pande, as well as Michael Greenstone and Anant Sudarshan of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), and researchers from The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. The team is evaluating the programme’s benefits and costs, relative to the status quo, using a randomised controlled trial.
The emissions trading programme frames on another innovation by the GPCB, the use of emissions monitoring systems to continuously track industry emissions in real time. About 350 industries around Surat have installed continuous emissions monitoring systems and transmit real-time, high-quality emissions data.
It is a very novel , original and creative method to regulate air pollution , long term exposure to which takes years of people’s life .
