“THE IMPACT OF CPEC COAL-BASED ENERGY PROJECTS ON TROPOSPHERIC OZONE IN PAKISTAN”

Abstract

For sustainable development and extracting long-term benefits from socio-economic intensive projects, protection, conservation, rehabilitation and improvement of the environment is essential. The environmental problem associated with developmental projects makes it difficult to pursue the important projects that contribute towards economic growth and sustainable development. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has initiated ‘1+4’ Projects in which energy projects entails the commencement of Coal-fired power plants to deal with power shortage crisis in Pakistan. The aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of Coal-Fired Power Plants under China Pakistan Economic Corridor on Tropospheric Ozone concentration in Pakistan. The emissions from the coal plants located at Sahiwal and Port Qasim are measured using data from NASA Satellite ‘Aura’ and processing using Rstudio, Arc Map and Google Maps to obtain raster images. The concentration changes from the year 2010-2017 were recorded according to the buffer zones created around each coal power plant. Three hypotheses were tested and results showed a significant increase in tropospheric Ozone concentration due to China Pakistan Economic Corridor with mean change from years (2010-14) and (2015-2017) for summers at 2.29±1.27 Dobson units and 0.94±0.64 increase in winters. Through the commencement of coal-fired power plants, the concentration of tropospheric ozone in those areas increased substantially from 2015 onwards. The relationship between Tropospheric Ozone levels and Coal-fired power plants of Sahiwal and Port Qasim for winters has resulted in almost 8% Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Plant Tropospheric Ozone concentration of 39.16 Dobson Unit that is greater than Sahiwal Tropospheric Ozone concentration 37.50 due to higher temperature in coastal. For Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Plant, Tropospheric Ozone concentration percentage change with respect to distance from the source point is significant for North and East in summers and only southern regions in winters and Port Qasim has lowered Tropospheric Ozone concentration level with increased distance in North and has positive increase for west, east and south for both winters and summers from year 2010-2017.This research gave clear evidence on China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects as not environment-friendly and dire need for mitigation techniques and policy-making and implementation to help Pakistan’s transition through China Pakistan Economic Corridor into a more developed county, given environment is preserved alongside development goals.