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To monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), India, during the last week of March 2020, imposed national restrictions on the movement of its citizens (lockdown). Although India’s economy was shut down due to restrictions, the nation observed a sharp decline in particulate matter (PM) concentrations. In recent years, Delhi has...

Manufacturing and mining sectors are serious pollution sources and risk factors that threaten air quality and human health. We analyzed pollutants at two study sites (Talcher and Brajrajnagar) in Odisha, an area exposed to industrial emissions, in the pre-COVID-19 year (2019) and consecutive pandemic years, including lockdowns (2020 and 2021). We...

The study evaluates the impacts of India’s COVID-19 lockdown and unlocking periods on the country’s ambient air quality. India experienced three strictly enforced lockdowns followed by unlocking periods where economic and social restrictions were gradually lifted. We have examined the in situ and satellite data of NO2 emissions for several Indian...

Between the 1990s and early 2000s, large-scale illegal dumping and improper treatment of medical waste was a common occurrence in Japan, and became a serious social issue owing to the potential human health risk and environmental damage resulting from the waste itself, which could be infectious or contained sharps or chemical and toxic substances...

Intensifying ecological crises, such as climate change, the melting Arctic, and uncontrolled destruction of habitat and biodiversity, are increasingly exposing the shortcomings of resource-intensive development models. One of the concepts helping policymakers steer a course change is sustainable consumption production and consumption (SCP). A...

This report analyses and compares the low carbon city policies and practices of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, with the goal of identifying sector-specific and city-specific good practices that may be instructive to researchers and policymakers in the wider NEA region. It examines key national-level carbon mitigation policies and sector...

The widespread adoption of low emissions technologies in rapidly developing countries is critical to resolving the climate emergency.1 However, many fast growing economies lack the energy efficient, renewable, and other advanced technologies needed to mitigate climate change. Technology transfer could help address these countries need. Yet the...

A growing body of evidence suggests that the climate crisis has widened social inequalities. The heightened emphasis on social inequality in international climate negotiations is therefore a welcomed step forward. Another step in this direction involves more explicitly considering the social dimension of co-benefits or “social co-benefits.” This...

Plastic is ubiquitous: we use it for life-saving medical devices, clothing, toys and cosmetics; we use it in agriculture and industry. But we also know the growing risk of plastic waste in the environment, landfills and the oceans. For example, the amount of plastic that some fulmars accumulate in their stomachs during their lives is equivalent to...

The Asian countries have diverse economic profiles, energy consumption patterns, greenhouse emissions, climatic conditions and socio-political landscapes. These dynamics bring into focus that drawing a uniform framework to define the energy transition process for the region is a difficult task. Keeping in view of this reality, this book identifies...