It’s time to focus on the toxic air we breathe: 

It’s time to focus on the toxic air we breathe: 

NITI Aayog’s draft energy policy ignores the health impacts of energy choices.

Issues related to subsidies

Context:

• On June 27, 2017, the Niti Aayog released the draft National Energy Policy.
• But the draft energy policy ignores the health impacts of energy choices

Draft policy ignores health:

• An important aspect that the draft policy ignores is public health, especially in the context of the energy mix envisaged under the NITI Ambition Scenario. (The Ambition Scenario is a tool to arrive at a range of possible energy futures for the energy sector till 2040.)
• In the document, there are 14 references to health, of which only five relate to public health in the context of household cooking fuel. The rest are analogies to describe the health of the coal sector and discoms.
• Moreover, according to environmental health researchers, children represent the subgroup of the population most affected by air pollution.
• Although the National Health Policy of 2017 views reducing air pollution as vital to India’s health trajectory, the National Energy Policy neither reflects nor supports the commitment outlined by the MHFW

Suggestions:

• Vision documents like the National Energy Policy have to strive to minimise the unavoidable health impacts of energy production, and their associated health costs, especially given the policy’s stated objectives of sustainability and economic growth.
• The policy should include a health impact assessment framework to weigh the health hazards and health costs associated with the entire life cycle of existing and future energy projects and technologies.