The Urban Unit of the Planning and Development Department of Punjab has released a report titled “Sectoral emission inventory of Lahore,” which provides insights into the sources of pollution in the city.
According to the report, more than 80% of Lahore’s pollution originates from the transport sector. This report marks the first district-scale effort in Punjab province to assess atmospheric pollutants resulting from human activities across six different sectors.
The primary contributors to pollution in Lahore, as identified in the report, are transportation (accounting for 83% of emissions), industry, agriculture, open-waste burning, and inefficient fuel consumption in commercial and domestic sectors.
The report highlights the alarming increase in the number of registered vehicles in Lahore, particularly two-stroke vehicles like motorbikes, scooters, and auto-rickshaws. However, it also acknowledges that the vehicle figures may be inflated due to the possibility that most vehicles in the Punjab province are registered in Lahore, based on anecdotal evidence.
Crop residue burning contributes 3.9% to the pollution in Lahore, while waste burning, a common practice in the city’s outskirts, accounts for 3.6% of emissions.
