The News
Air pollution hit the highest ever recorded in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city on Sunday, prompting the government to close all primary schools, and encourage workers to stay home.
Residents of the city described a “thick” smog that made breathing “exhausting,” according to the New York Times, with a high risk of serious heart and lung conditions at such levels. Already, the World Bank reported that air pollution reduces the average life expectancy of Pakistanis by 4.3 years.
Crop burning by farmers in northern India and Pakistan usually results in poor air quality by October and November, however this year, the levels have been especially alarming. Northern Indian cities are also experiencing severe air pollution, with New Delhi reporting the second-highest levels of any city globally on Thursday.
SIGNALS
Pakistani officials call for ‘smog diplomacy’ with India
As the “pollution season” settles in this year, some Pakistani officials have already begun pointing fingers at India because of a strong eastern wind that, they say, carried smog across their shared border into the Pakistani Punjab province. However, the province’s chief minister has struck a more conciliatory tone, calling instead for “smog diplomacy,” whereby both countries might put aside their historical antagonism to find a solution to what is a deadly problem across the entire South Asian region. “Smog is not a political but a humanitarian issue,” she said. To that end, Pakistani officials have drafted a letter to the Indian government seeking talks on the issue. “We need climate diplomacy,” a local Pakistani environment minister told CNN, “as a regional and global issue.”
Pollution hampers region’s economy
Both Pakistan and India have pledged to transition to a greener economy, with the goal of reducing the pollution caused by slash-and-burn farming practices and fossil fuel production. In Pakistan, air pollution alone has caused losses equivalent to 6.5% of the country’s economy in 2024, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, in India, a World Bank study found that pollution-linked medical conditions and premature deaths cost the country 1.36% of its gross domestic product in 2019, Bloomberg reported. India faces a “double bind,” Euronews wrote, “being one of the world’s fastest-growing economies with 1.4 billion citizens who need power while trying to wean itself off of fossil fuels.” Last year, Indian officials asked coal-fired plants to not retire until 2030.