Overview
- A CREA analysis of 25 coal units within 300 km of Delhi-NCR estimated a combined 154 kilotonnes of SO2 in 2025 and found about 90% of that came from plants without flue gas desulphurisation (FGD).
- CREA reported on Monday that roughly 81% of the SO2 from the sampled units originated from Category C plants, the group exempted from mandatory FGD by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in July 2025.
- The July 2025 notification reclassified plants by location and effectively left about 78% of India’s coal fleet free of mandatory SO2 controls, shifting pollution burdens to units outside designated urban or critically polluted zones.
- Where FGDs exist they usually cut SO2 sharply, with plants such as Dadri and Mahatma Gandhi reporting far lower emissions than similar uncontrolled stations, yet some installed scrubbers still run below capacity or go offline and fail to meet limits.
- CREA urges the government to reinstate universal FGD requirements and to publish real-time Continuous Emission Monitoring System data to verify compliance, a move that would directly affect public health by reducing SO2-driven PM2.5 formation and exposures in the Delhi region.