Centre rejects global climate air quality rankings; says they hold no bearing on Indias policymaking
NEW DELHI: The Central Government has dismissed any external climate risk rankings and air quality rankings for domestic policymaking. Recently, the Global Climate Risk Index assessed countries based on the human and economic impact of extreme weather events. The government also rejected global air quality rankings, stating that these rankings were not conducted by any official authority. It emphasized that the World Health Organization's (WHO) air quality guidelines are advisory values rather than binding standards. On Thursday, the government informed Parliament that global air quality rankings cited by various organisations are not conducted by any official authority, and reiterated that the WHO air quality guidelines are only meant to serve as advisory values. In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha regarding India's position in global indices such as IQAir's World Air Quality Ranking, the WHO Global Air Quality Database, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) metrics, Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh clarified that no official country-specific pollution ranking is conducted worldwide. The WHO's guidelines are intended to help countries establish their own standards by considering factors such as geography, environmental conditions, background levels, and national circumstances, Singh stated. He noted that India has already established its National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 12 pollutants to protect public health and environmental quality. India conducts its own annual air quality survey to evaluate and rank 130 cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), based on measures for improving air quality. In response to another question about India's ranking of ninth on the Global Climate Risk Index, Singh clarified that his government does not recognize any external ranking as a foundation for domestic policy formulation. According to the Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026, published by the environmental think tank Germanwatch at COP30 in Brazil's Belm, India ranked ninth globally among countries most affected by climate disasters over the past three decades, with nearly 430 extreme weather events resulting in the deaths of over 80,000 people. The CRI ranks countries based on the human and economic toll of extreme weather events. The ministry stated that India addresses the impacts of such events through the National Policy on Disaster Management, which aims to build a safe and disaster-resilient India with a comprehensive, proactive, multi-disaster-oriented, and technology-driven strategy. This policy encompasses institutional, legal, and financial arrangements, as well as prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery. All 34 states and Union Territories have developed their State Action Plans on Climate Change aligned with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), with implementation responsibilities resting on the respective governments.
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