'Transport accounts for 30% of emissions'

A roundtable on deteriorating air quality in Sindh, organised by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), concluded on Monday with broad agreement on the need for urgent, data-driven action and stronger coordination across government, industry, and civil society.

Secretary Environment, Climate Change and Coastal Development Zubair Ahmed said air pollution could not be treated as a single-sector problem. He identified transport as accounting for roughly 30 per cent of provincial emissions, with motorcycles and municipal operations among the leading contributors. He called for precise, sector-wise quantification of emissions as a prerequisite for any targeted policy response and drew attention to improper waste disposal and methane emissions from rural areas as factors that had received insufficient policy attention.

SEPA Director General Waqar Hussain said persistently low compliance among industries remained one of the most serious obstacles to improvement.