News archive
Air-quality stories published in September 2026, newest first. Each links to the original source.
Showing all 54 stories
The Daily Jagran reported Delhi's AQI at 129 (moderate), with 19 new crop-residue fires detected on 30 September and 114 events between 15 and 30 September, led by Punjab with 59 cases. It said air quality is expected to stay moderate from 1 to 3 October, with conditions less favourable for dispersal afterwards.
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The Free Press Journal reported that a Supreme Court bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale declined a total firecracker ban but permitted specified next-generation green crackers with noise below 125 decibels. The Centre, CSIR-NEERI, PESO and CPCB have until 15 October 2026 to assess barium-containing variants through open-ground tests.
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ThePrint reported on the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service's 'Atmosphere Watch' report, which found nearly half the world's population faced very or extremely poor air quality in the first eight months of 2026. Asia was worst affected by ozone, with nine in ten people exposed to dangerous levels, and Delhi was listed among the most polluted cities.
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Business Today reported that, under CAQM Direction No. 101, fuel stations in the NCR must not refuel vehicles without a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate from 1 October 2026, with ANPR cameras to be installed to flag non-compliant vehicles. It also noted a push against end-of-life vehicles and a phase-out of diesel auto-rickshaws from NCR districts by 31 December 2026.
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ThePrint reported that Delhi's average AQI in September was 102, the lowest for the month since 2021, citing the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The monsoon withdrew on 23 September after 83 days, the shortest stay in 14 years, and CREA analyst Manoj Kumar attributed the cleaner air partly to wind speed and stronger atmospheric mixing.
Read moreThePrint reported that the Commission for Air Quality Management revised the Graded Response Action Plan on 28 September, moving diesel generator and inter-city bus curbs from Stage II to Stage I and extending the BS-III petrol/BS-IV diesel car ban to Sonipat and border areas. Large construction projects of 500 sq m or more must register and be monitored, and the citizen charter grows from 22 to 34 actions, CAQM member SD Attri said.
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The Star reported that Indonesia's Forestry Ministry said high-confidence hotspots fell to 365 on 28 September from 559 a day earlier, with Central Kalimantan dropping from 134 to 37. South Sumatra rose against the trend to 96 from 29, and 61 aircraft remain on standby.
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Singapore's National Environment Agency reported 24-hour PSI readings of 107 to 157 in the Unhealthy range on 29 September, with smoke from fires in Kalimantan and southern Sumatra drifting towards the island. NEA forecast air quality to stay between high Moderate and mid Unhealthy as dry conditions persist in the source areas.
Read moreLahore topped global air-quality rankings on 26 September with an overall AQI of 204, Daily Pakistan reported, with Paragon City recording the highest neighbourhood reading at 271 and Barki Road at 227. The outlet said experts advised residents to take precautionary measures as pollution climbed amid calm winds and high humidity.
Read moreThePrint reported that a strengthening El Niño is expected to reduce winter rainfall over Delhi-NCR by weakening the western disturbances that normally help clear pollutants, citing Skymet Weather's Mahesh Palawat and IMD data pointing to only three to four western disturbances in December-January. Punjab's farm fires fell 53% in 2025 versus 2024, but the Supreme Court has flagged continuing enforcement gaps in Punjab and Haryana.
Read moreMalaysia's Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry is studying Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act as a model for a dedicated law to penalise firms behind cross-border haze, undersecretary Dr G. Pubadi told The Star. A multi-ministry committee has been formed, and the proposal, backed by Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Thailand, will go before an 11-country ASEAN meeting in Vietnam in December.
Read moreSingapore's National Environment Agency reported a 24-hour PSI of 61-79 (Moderate range) as of 6pm, with moderate to dense smoke plumes from ongoing fires in Kalimantan and southern Sumatra amid dry conditions. NEA forecast showers over Singapore and the surrounding region that could ease the smoke haze risk into September 26.
Read moreA study in Nature Cities led by Oxford-affiliated researcher Basudev Swain found that while India's shift to cleaner cooking fuel cut household air-pollution deaths from about 1.2 million a year around 2010 to roughly 1 million by 2023, deaths linked to coal-fired power-plant emissions rose from about 15,000 in 2000 to nearly 300,000 in 2020, per Medical Xpress. Researchers attributed the rise to coal supplying about 76% of India's electricity generation in 2020.
Read moreHaryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi unveiled a plan to set up a district- and block-level 'Parali Protection Force' of police, agriculture and administrative officials, alongside drone surveillance with DRIISHYA under CAQM directions, The Tribune reported. Verified stubble-burning cases will trigger an FIR, challan and land-record 'red entry', while farmers adopting crop-residue management get a Rs 1,200-per-acre incentive.
Read moreA Bombay High Court division bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale banned bursting firecrackers on public streets, roads and similar areas across Maharashtra cities including Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik, also barring laser and high-intensity lights during festivities, ThePrint reported. The order, in a suo motu case on festival noise and pollution, cited weak enforcement of existing rules and set a compliance review for October 15.
Read moreIndonesia's health ministry recorded 174,694 acute respiratory infection cases, including more than 40,000 among toddlers, across seven haze-affected provinces between August and September 21, health ministry official Then Suyanti said, The Jakarta Post reported. The tally is up sharply from over 113,000 cases reported as of September 9, as wildfire haze continues to blanket parts of Borneo, Sumatra and Papua.
Read moreThe Southwest Monsoon withdrew from Delhi on September 23, ending an 83-day spell (July 2 to September 23) that was the capital's shortest since an 80-day spell in 2012, ThePrint reported. Delhi still received 728.6mm of rain, 16% above normal, but the early withdrawal ushers in drier conditions after AQI had already climbed from 118 to 178 over the preceding week.
Read moreThickening wildfire haze forced the evacuation of 167 patients to another wing of Sambang Lihum Psychiatric Hospital in Banjar regency, South Kalimantan, after about two hectares of the facility's forest burned, The Jakarta Post reported. Hospital director Yuddy Riswandhy Noora said medical operations continued despite patient complaints about smoke, with a nearby social rehabilitation centre on standby if conditions worsen further.
Read moreSerian recorded Malaysia's Air Pollutant Index at 201, in the 'very unhealthy' band, on September 23, while Kuching stood at 185 and readings across Sarawak's monitoring stations ranged from 121 to 201, Free Malaysia Today reported citing the Department of Environment. The outlet said the whole of Sarawak was battling haze from land and forest fires burning in Indonesia.
Read moreDelhi's Transport Department plans to add 150 electric buses next month, expanding its fleet to 5,238 across 40 depots, already India's largest public electric bus fleet, Swarajya reported. Transport Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh reviewed progress on September 21, with charging infrastructure being built at additional depots under the National Electric Bus Programme and PM E-Drive scheme.
Read moreThe National Green Tribunal directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to file a more detailed report within four weeks on Environmental Damage Compensation recovery from seven industrial units found operating without mandatory pollution consents or control devices, The Tribune reported. The tribunal called the DPCC's earlier status report insufficiently detailed and listed the matter for further review on December 7, ahead of winter.
Read moreMore than 200 experts from over 40 countries, including India's Dr Ranga Reddy Burri of the Infection Control Academy of India, launched a Global Framework for Action on healthy indoor air during Climate Week in New York, Deccan Chronicle reported. The framework sets out nine action areas and about 180 voluntary recommendations, citing household air pollution's link to more than three million deaths a year.
Read moreHearing suo motu proceedings on festival noise and air pollution, the Bombay High Court directed Maharashtra authorities to enforce a complete ban on bursting firecrackers on public roads and to strictly police decibel limits of 55dB in residential and 65dB in commercial areas, the Free Press Journal reported. A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale cited readings of 90-100 decibels during processions and said festivities cannot be a 'free-for-all.'
Read moreResearchers from IIT Bombay and European universities produced the first nationwide multi-year maps of India's brick kilns using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and deep learning, published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, The Tribune reported. The study estimates India has over a million kilns, responsible for roughly 15% of the country's particulate emissions and 6% of its CO2 emissions, with about 60% concentrated in the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
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Delhi's AQI rose to 169 on Monday, the upper end of CPCB's 'moderate' band, extending a four-day climb from 88 on Friday to 118, 160 and 169, with PM2.5 and ozone the dominant pollutants, Dynamite News reported. The IMD said conditions were turning favourable for the southwest monsoon's withdrawal from Delhi within two to three days, after which no significant rain is forecast for the week.
Read morePunjab AAP leader Baltej Pannu criticised the Centre's proposed 2026 stubble-burning rules, which would impose environmental compensation of Rs 5,000-30,000 based on landholding size and a 15-month "red entry" against farmland records, calling the approach punitive rather than supportive, PTI reported. Pannu cited a 53% year-on-year drop in Punjab farm fires in 2025 and urged the Centre to also address stubble burning in other states.
Read moreThe New Delhi Municipal Council approved a 50% concession on parking charges for electric vehicles at all its parking facilities and adopted new solid-waste-management bylaws setting monthly user charges and fines for waste generators, ThePrint (PTI) reported, as part of a push framed by officials as building a cleaner capital.
Read moreIndonesia has deployed 64 aircraft and roughly 54,000 personnel since last month to fight forest and peatland fires on Borneo and Sumatra, but the blazes remain hard to contain, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said, according to AFP. The resulting haze has affected Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks, with Kuala Lumpur's Air Pollutant Index at 156 and Kuching's at 157, both in unhealthy territory.
Read moreDelhi's Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa has directed district administrations to map pollution hotspots and audit emission sources within a 3-km radius of each location ahead of winter, The Tribune reported. Officials were told to use air-quality monitoring data to assign hotspot-specific responsibility for road dust, construction debris, unauthorised parking and biomass burning, and to complete pending road repairs and dust-suppression work by October 31.
Read moreDelhi's average AQI rose to 160 on Sunday, its highest in 62 days, and climbed further to 165 by 10pm, according to CPCB data cited by IANS. Six of the city's 45 monitoring stations recorded 'poor' air quality, including IGI Airport (264) and Chandni Chowk (227), with IMD forecasting no rain through the week as the monsoon withdraws.
Read moreSingapore's 24-hour PSI crossed into unhealthy territory in the eastern and western regions overnight, joining the central region which had been unhealthy since Saturday afternoon, AsiaOne reported citing NEA data. NEA attributed the smoke to fires in Kalimantan and southern Sumatra and forecast PSI to stay in the high-moderate to mid-unhealthy range.
Read moreLahore topped IQAir's global ranking of most polluted cities on Saturday with an AQI of 181, ahead of Singapore (177), Kuching (171) and Kolkata (168), Daily Pakistan reported. Within Lahore, Model Town recorded the highest reading at 211, while Burki Road and Bedian Road measured 162 and 160 respectively.
Read moreUnion Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the state's air pollution action plan for eight NCR-linked districts, including Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut, at a meeting in Lucknow on Friday, the Free Press Journal reported. Discussions covered EV adoption, industrial emissions monitoring, dust mitigation and inter-state coordination on stubble management ahead of winter.
Read moreThe Tribune reported that Punjab recorded two farm fires, both in Tarn Taran district, on September 15, the first day of the state's official 2026 stubble-burning monitoring season that runs through November 30. Paddy harvesting is expected to pick up by late September, with officials citing plans to deploy about 7,500 super straw management system machines and 6,500 super seeder machines, and a Jalandhar Agriculture Department awareness drive with the Lung Care Foundation to warn farmers of health risks from residue burning.
Read moreThe Freeman reported that Metro Cebu's air quality index, tracked by the Environmental Management Bureau Region VII, improved from 173 ('very unhealthy') on September 1 to 57 ('fair') as of 7 a.m. on September 16, while a Toledo City monitoring station recorded 17 ('good'). EMB-7 had earlier linked the region's worst reading of 251 on September 3 to transboundary smoke and fine particulate matter from Indonesia's forest and peatland fires, carried by southwest monsoon winds.
Read moreThe Jakarta Post reported that thickening haze from Indonesia's forest and peatland fires has repeatedly delayed water-bombing operations by Japan Self-Defense Force helicopters in West Kalimantan, with JSDF representative Koga Takeshi saying poor visibility again postponed planned flights this week. The JSDF's three CH-47 Chinook helicopters and roughly 300 personnel arrived September 10; air quality in Southeast Pontianak district reached 388 on Indonesia's Air Pollutant Standard Index, while smoke also reached Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in addition to Malaysia and Singapore.
Read moreBernama reported that Indonesia's government sealed about 50 companies across eight provinces after fire hotspots were detected in their concession areas, with Deputy Environment Minister Diaz Hendropriyono warning sanctions could follow if the firms are found responsible. The Forestry Ministry recorded 1,037 high-confidence hotspots nationwide as of September 15, a 27.8% drop from 1,437 the previous day, while Minister Raja Juli Antoni said expected rain had been delayed, extending fire risk into late October or November under persistent El Nino conditions.
Read moreAZPM reported that the EPA's partial repeal of Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuel power plants could worsen conditions in Pima County, Arizona, which received a failing 2026 grade from the American Lung Association for ozone pollution; the county's asthma hospitalization rate already exceeds state and national averages, and its two gas-fired plants would no longer face federal emissions limits. Former EPA senior advisor Zealan Hoover said the rule undercounts the health costs of increased pollution as Arizona plans new power plants to serve data centers.
Read moreThe Commission for Air Quality Management's 139th Enforcement Task Force meeting, held September 14, reviewed 150 inspections conducted across NCR between August 24 and September 7, including 98 at industrial units, 45 involving diesel generator sets and 7 at construction and demolition sites, ANI reported. The Commission proposed closing three C&D projects and one industrial unit and sealing 25 DG sets, and noted a special September 3 drive in Nuh, Haryana that inspected 35 premises, finding seven locked units pending reinspection.
Read moreA study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that satellite-measured air pollution rose 24-33% across 46 cities in the months after the U.S. State Department ended its embassy air-quality monitoring program in March 2025, NPR reported. Lead author Zoey Yiyuan Zhou of Columbia University said pollution showed no significant trend in the 300 days before monitoring stopped but climbed roughly 30% within three to four months afterward, translating to about a 4% rise in PM2.5, with Southeast Asian cities including Manila, Rangoon and Vientiane seeing the largest increases.
Read moreThe EPA finalized a partial repeal of 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuel power plants and proposed rescinding the underlying greenhouse-gas endangerment finding, 90.5 WESA (Allegheny Front) reported. The outlet noted the rollback would also raise co-emitted fine particulate matter linked to heart attacks, reduced lung function and asthma, and that the EPA did not estimate the resulting public-health costs, unlike the Biden-era analysis that projected $370 billion in pollution-related health benefits from the original rules.
Read moreIndonesia's meteorological agency BMKG warned that smoke from ongoing land and forest fires in Kalimantan could reach the Riau Islands in the coming days, Antara News reported. BMKG Tanjungpinang chief Ahmad Kosasih said southeasterly winds would carry smoke toward the archipelago and that expected rain would be too localized to clear the haze, as dense smoke already blanketed Tanjungpinang and Bintan and prompted schools there to shift to online classes from September 15-18.
Read moreThe Commission for Air Quality Management asked Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to postpone physical school sports competitions in November and December due to expected winter air-quality deterioration, ETV Bharat reported. The advisory, referencing Supreme Court concerns in the MC Mehta case, cited stubble burning, vehicular and industrial emissions as pollution sources and warned of risks including bronchitis, asthma and respiratory infections, while urging authorities to reschedule events or offer alternative activities without disadvantaging students.
Read moreTransboundary smoke haze from forest fires in Indonesia pushed Singapore's central-region 24-hour PSI to 102 (unhealthy) by noon on September 14, Malay Mail reported, citing Singapore's National Environment Agency; other regions ranged from 79 to 91 (moderate). The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre said scattered hotspots persisted in southern Sumatra and West, Central and South Kalimantan, with haze risk expected to stay elevated under prevailing southeast winds, and smoke also reaching southern Vietnam.
Read moreThick smoke from forest and peatland fires disrupted flights for several days in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province and cut visibility in Pontianak to under a kilometre, the Associated Press reported, as an intensifying El Nino and prolonged dry season worsened the blazes. The haze disrupted schooling for more than 1.4 million students nationwide and hampered firefighting despite aircraft assistance from Japan, the US, Russia, Australia, Canada and Ukraine, while smoke also breached Malaysia's emergency threshold in Sarawak.
Read moreA fire that began September 6 at the former ECCO Recycling and Energy Corp. site in southeast Calgary reignited on September 9 and was still burning as of September 14, raising air-quality concerns for downwind communities including Douglasdale, Quarry Park, McKenzie Towne and New Brighton, The Weather Network reported. Alberta's government deployed a mobile air-monitoring lab and said no hourly readings had exceeded air-quality objectives as of September 10, even as nearby residents reported strong odours and respiratory irritation.
Read moreLahore's air quality was at a moderate level on September 14 as favourable winds aided pollutant dispersal, with Punjab's Environment Protection Department crediting anti-smog measures for 'early positive results,' The Lahore Times reported. Director-General Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh said enforcement includes thermal drones tracking crop-residue burning and industrial emissions and action against brick kilns lacking zig-zag technology, days after a September 13 rain-affected reading of AQI 147 (unhealthy for sensitive groups).
Read moreThe Delhi government plans to deploy an AI- and machine-learning-powered Bus Management System to manage its expanding electric bus fleet, Energetica India reported. The Delhi Transport Corporation currently runs about 6,269 buses, including more than 4,500 electric buses across 52 depots, with the system meant to optimise EV charging and predict battery degradation as the fleet is expanded to a planned 14,000 buses by 2028-29.
Read moreThe Jammu & Kashmir Climate Action Group urged legislators to debate the 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan results, which showed Srinagar's rank among cities with a population over 10 lakh sliding to 26th from 4th in 2023, Kashmir Despatch reported. Group chairman Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat cited open burning of municipal waste, lack of dust control, unregistered vehicles, and unchecked illegal cement plants and stone crushers as contributing factors, and demanded accountability from authorities.
Read moreA Princeton University study reported by PTI links about 70 per cent of the year-to-year variation in northern India's winter air pollution to how often western disturbances, Mediterranean-origin storm systems that improve ventilation and bring rain, reach the region. The researchers say autumn ocean-temperature patterns could help forecast whether a coming winter is likely to be relatively severe or mild for pollution about a season ahead, giving authorities more time to plan emission controls.
Read moreIndonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka apologised to Kalimantan residents during a visit to a fire-monitoring post in South Kalimantan, Antara reported. Air pollution index readings cited in the report ranged from 703 to 780 in Palangkaraya and peaked at 1,166 in Sampit, far above the hazardous threshold of 300, while official data put the area burned at over 202,000 hectares by mid-August. Smoke from the fires has also affected Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
Read moreThe Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said it is treating the Haryana State Pollution Control Board's continued lapses in remote dust monitoring of construction and demolition sites as wilful non-compliance, according to the Environment Ministry. CAQM's checks in June found working web-camera feeds at only 15 of about 2,000 registered active sites across Panipat, Sonipat, Faridabad and Gurugram. At a review meeting on September 8, the board was directed to enforce the rules, including closing non-compliant sites.
Read moreLucknow scored 198 out of 200 to edge out Indore, on 197, among cities with populations above one million in the 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan, the annual assessment of 130 cities under the National Clean Air Programme. Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava attributed the one-point gap to the city lagging on PM10 standards, Business Standard reported, while Lucknow's score reflected measures such as electric waste-collection vehicles and mechanised road sweeping.
Read moreDelhi's Public Works Department has floated 10 tenders to hire more than 1,100 anti-smog guns, at an expected cost of over Rs 150 crore, to run from September to June, The Tribune reported. The guns were previously deployed mainly between November and March, generally numbering below 600. Studies have estimated dust's contribution at up to around 30 per cent of the city's pollution, though its share varies by season and location.
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