According to a Stanford University study, annual crop losses of around $1 billion may be avoided if NO₂ emissions from coal plants are eliminated throughout Indian farmlands. Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability researchers found that NO₂ emissions caused yields of rice and wheat to drop by at least 10% in many Indian regions. The results highlight an urgent agricultural issue because these grains are essential to the nation’s food security.

Using a statistical model, the study calculated the losses of rice and wheat associated with NO₂ emissions from coal-fired power stations. Satellite measurements of NO₂ levels over agricultural land, daily wind direction records, and energy-generating data from 144 power plants were all incorporated into this model. The researchers discovered that cropland up to 100 kilometres (62 miles) away was impacted by NO₂ concentrations from coal-fired power plants, which had a major effect on agricultural productivity.

Potential Economic Benefits of Reducing Emissions

According to the study, removing NO₂ emissions from coal plants over farms within this 100-kilometre radius during the crucial growing seasons—September–October for rice and January–February for wheat—could greatly increase agricultural productivity. While wheat production might increase by $400 million annually, rice production could increase by about $420 million annually.

States differ in how much coal emissions contribute to NO₂ pollution. Coal plants can contribute up to 13–19% of NO₂ pollution in Chhattisgarh but only about 3-5% in Uttar Pradesh. Other significant sources of NO₂ emissions besides coal-fired power stations include industrial pollution and automobile exhaust.

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Comparing Crop Losses to Health Impacts

The researchers examined the effects of coal emissions on crop damage in relation to death. The study noted that, in many instances, crop damage per unit of electricity output was more severe, even if the total economic cost of crop losses was smaller than the mortality damages associated with each power station. In particular, wheat damage was greater at 35 power plants, and rice damage per gigawatt-hour of electricity was greater at 58 of the 144 power plants.

The power plants that caused the greatest crop losses were not always the ones that caused the highest mortality rates. This implies that the advantages of lowering NO₂ emissions may be more widespread and more equitably distributed than previously thought. When developing policies to control coal power emissions in India, the researchers stressed the significance of taking into account both the effects on agriculture and human health.

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