Breaking Barriers to Shifting to Clean Cooking Fuels

USAID, Asar Social Impact Advisors in collaboration with CEEW launched a report titled - ‘Barriers to access, adoption and sustained use of cleaner fuels among low-income households: An exploratory study from Delhi and Jharkhand, India’ with Shri Kushagra Mittal, Deputy Secretary (LPG), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in August 2023. The recommendations in the report are aimed at accelerating the transition to clean cooking practices with an emphasis on behaviour change campaigns and more incentives for adopting cleaner fuels, as LPG access alone does not guarantee sustained use unless refills are made affordable. Asar as part of the CABH engagement with MoPNG has led to approximately 300 women from Delhi and Jharkhand to sign up for the PMUY scheme for the first time. Engagement in Delhi and Nagpur slums, and Lohardaga, Dhanbad and Bokaro districts of Jharkhand has led to 6425 women participating in awareness meetings on air pollution, household air pollution and health impacts. CABH project has trained more than 3869 women on Household Air Pollution (HAP) and clean cooking.

USAID and CEEW Host National Dialogue on Air Pollution and Health

The Dialogue 'Cleaner Air and Better Health: Innovating Pathways to Scaling Solutions’ held on on August 31, 2023, brought together key stakeholders from the Government of India, pollution regulating agencies, academic institutions, and civil society to discuss and advance approaches to improving air quality, with a focus on mitigating health impacts. The event also included an exhibition – Hawa ke Saathi (Friends of Air) – that showcased prototypes of clean air solutions and interventions. Innovations included battery-powered wearable heating solutions for outdoor workers in winter months, a green hydrogen cookstove that provides energy security in areas where fuel delivery is a challenge, and a mini electric tractor designed to meet the specific requirements of small landholders and vegetable farmers.

Enhancing the Use of Data in Reporting on Air Pollution

USAID and Vital Strategies convened over 25 health- and climate- focused journalists from across six states for a two-day workshop [August 2023] in Goa to share best practices in and enhance the use of data in reporting on air pollution. The workshop included identifying sources of health data and evaluating public health claims, using credible data to inform stories, and discussions around challenges and opportunities to create evidence-based, compelling stories around air quality in India. The discussion also included sharing of experiences and ideas on how to humanise data or boosting data transparency to build a better understanding among its readers on the issue.

Building Capacity on Indoor Air Quality

Environmental Design Solutions (EDS) hosted the ‘Breathe-In’ dialogues jointly with the Society for Indoor Environment (SIE) as the knowledge partner. The ‘Breathe-In’ dialogues include a series of webinars to generate a community of professionals with know-how on indoor air quality issues, concerns and solutions and is focused on four themes - Regulatory convergence, Integrated design and technology, monitoring and management, and occupant awareness and communication.

Signature Global and CEEW Deploy a Pilot Air Quality Monitoring Network in Gurugram to Manage Construction Dust

A first-of-its-kind air quality monitoring network was deployed as a pilot at a Signature Global construction site to strengthen the regulation of polluting activities and promote clean construction practices. The network comprises of 9 air quality monitors and 1 automatic weather station, the data from which will be available to project developers and the research team through a dashboard that will capture pollution concentrations during different on-site construction activities. The network will strengthen regulation of pollution activities on construction sites and promote clean construction practices.