Pakistan’s Punjab Launches Plan to Curb World’s Worst Smog

  • Policy will target old vehicles and crop residue burning
  • Lahore recorded world’s worst air quality for most of November
Heavy smog in Lahore.Photographer: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images
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The government of Pakistan’s most polluted province has launched a new policy to address a protracted smog crisis, after the world’s worst air shuttered schools and saw 900 people seek hospital treatment in a single day.

Punjab has introduced a 10-year policy to reduce emissions from various sectors in a phased manner, Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a post on X. The measures include starting the nation’s first vehicle certification scheme, fuel quality checks and distributing new farming machinery to prevent crop residue burning.