Smog control gaps foil policy goals

Speakers at seminar stress urban-mobility reforms

LAHORE:

Despite an expanding stack of clean-air policies, Lahore's smog crisis continues to deepen as weak implementation, poor interdepartmental coordination, and ineffective public communication stall meaningful action, experts warned while addressing a seminar.

They warned that transport remains the city's largest polluter, stubble burning persists despite subsidies, and citizens lack the incentives and infrastructure needed to adopt low-emission mobility habits.

They stressed that without long-term planning and a shift from reactive measures to sustained enforcement and behavioural change, Punjab's air-quality emergency will only worsen.

The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) hosted the seminar on smog mitigation, resilience and carbon credit feasibility in collaboration with the Rasta Competitive Research Grants Programme.

The event brought together researchers and policymakers to examine Lahore's worsening smog crisis, sectoral emissions, and emerging behavioural pathways toward sustainable mobility.

In her presentation, Dr Aqsa Shabbir stressed that Punjab must move away from reactive measures — such as ad-hoc closures — towards long-term, preventive strategies.

She said Lahore's air quality had begun deteriorating rapidly after industrial expansion in the 1990s, with smog becoming a recurring emergency by 2016.

Since then, 12 policy documents have been produced, including the Punjab Clean Air Policy (2023), Climate-Resilient Punjab Action Plan (2024), and the Smog Control Strategy (2024-25), but weak implementation, inadequate surveillance, and limited institutional capacity remain the biggest obstacles, she said.

Dr Shabbir said the transport sector contributes up to 83 per cent of Lahore's emissions, followed by industry and agriculture. While initiatives such as vehicle-inspection centres, fuel-quality monitoring, and electric vehicle-friendly policies appear promising on paper, coordination gaps — particularly between the transport and energy departments — are limiting progress.