04-06-21 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

In a bid to address the problem of growing industrial Air Pollution, the Punjab government announced PARTNERSHIP with the Abdul Latif Jameel POVERTY Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC India) to launch the use of an emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The state’s and Commerce and the Science, Technology and Environment Departments would work with them to design and establish pollution markets in Punjab.

The partnership includes providing technical assistance and capacity building to public officials to effectively use data and research evidence from established and functioning emissions trading market in Surat in Gujarat.

As a first step in this partnership, the State Government and the Punjab Pollution Control Board would also launch an ETS to regulate emissions from 200 dyeing industries in Ludhiana besides reducing particulate and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state.

Notably, this initiative is part of an ongoing partnership between the state government and J-PAL South Asia, wherein since 2017 J-PAL South Asia has worked with state departments to facilitate rigorous, policy-relevant researchand the scale-up of successful programmes.