The National Assembly was informed that a National Cleaner Air Policy has been formulated to address the growing issue of air pollution and recurring smog issues in major cities of the country.

Responding to a question during the Question Hour in the House today, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman apprised that main objectives of the policy are formulating a framework for improving air quality, citizens’ health, food security, and reducing trans-boundary air pollution and expanding economic activity.

She further said that the policy identified priority interventions including implementation of Euro-5 and Euro-6 fuel quality standards, enforcement of emission standards for industries, prevention of burning of agriculture residues as well as open burning of municipal solid waste and promoting low emission cooking technologies.

Responding to another question, the Minister said that despite a meager overall contribution to greenhouse gases, Pakistan is greatly affected by the climate threats including water stress, desertification glacier melting, extreme weather events and spread of disease.

She said these threats pose severe challenges to Pakistan in terms of ecology, agriculture, economic development and sustainability with no significant visual benefits. However, the government has proactively taken initiatives to address the climatic impacts to turn the challenges into opportunity.

At the outset, the House offered fateha for the departed souls of four security personnel, who embraced martyrdom in Kech in an incident of firing by terrorists.