Mitigation strategies for critically polluted PM2.5 regions using spatially targeted airsheds: application to the Indo-Gangetic Plain, India

Air pollution in India is a regional problem, yet the current air quality management policy is largely city-centric. Here, we developed an airshed management framework that emphasizes cooperative action for PM 2.5 pollution mitigation. This framework identifies air pollution control areas (APCAs) for targeted emissions control by mapping sectoral emissions from administrative units to pollution levels to meet specified air quality targets. Our case study location is four critically polluted regions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. We find that the dominant emission sectors differ across APCAs, such as agriculture, transport, domestic sources, and industry, highlighting the inadequacy of broad regional airshed management and the need for tailored air quality management plans. This framework yields differentiated policy guidance at the airshed and sub-airshed scales for the districts that constitute an APCA, leading to a spatially fine-tuned and implicitly minimal-effort mitigation plan. The developed framework is generalizable worldwide to polluted regions.