Increase in Delhi’s air pollution linked with global energy crisis due to West Asia War

Increase in Delhi’s air pollution linked with global energy crisis due to West Asia War | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Increase in Delhi’s air pollution linked with global energy crisis due to West Asia War Avik Kumar Sam, Kounik De Sarkar, Abhinav Sharma, Navinya Dilip Chimurkar, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9692910/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The 2026 fuel crisis highlighted a critical vulnerability in India’s urban air quality management by revealing its dependence on a stable commercial energy supply. While policies such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks have promoted a much-needed transition to cleaner fuels, supply chain disruptions have triggered a rapid reversion to polluting alternatives in the commercial hospitality sector. Using hourly meteorological and atmospheric observations during the crisis, we observe a shift towards the alternatives in Delhi. While nitrogen oxides (NO x ) declined, reflecting reduced vehicular activity, concentrations of PM 2.5 , carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) increased significantly. During peak evening hours, Low-density restaurant neighbourhoods exhibited a 29.3% increase in SO₂ and a 48.2% increase in CO, while the high-density neighbourhoods showed a ~32% increase in CO, indicating a shift toward inefficient, high-Sulphur solid-fuel combustion. Further, a persistent 6.3-20.4 µg/m³ PM 2.5 surplus during evening peak hours further suggests a spatially consistent transition independent of commercial restaurants density. These findings challenge transport-centric mitigation strategies under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and highlight the need for energy-resilient urban policy. Extending resilient clean energy support to commercial hospitality systems, prioritizing decarbonized heating solutions, and integrating commercial restaurants and eateries’ emissions into monitoring frameworks are essential to sustaining air quality gains during future energy disruptions . Environmental Policy Environmental Engineering Urban air quality Energy resilience Commercial Restaurant emissions PM2.5 Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) Carbon monoxide (CO) Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files Supplementary19April2026.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9692910","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":639068275,"identity":"9fd57c20-83b6-4e09-8839-cf9b08c43d6a","order_by":0,"name":"Avik Kumar Sam","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8916-4390","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Bombay","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Avik","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"Sam","suffix":""},{"id":639071530,"identity":"e9314e89-1d3f-4f55-8b37-0bec378e7591","order_by":1,"name":"Kounik De Sarkar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Bombay","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kounik","middleName":"","lastName":"De Sarkar","suffix":""},{"id":639071537,"identity":"5c6d8102-2d4b-4007-af66-767b26ba4499","order_by":2,"name":"Abhinav Sharma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Bombay","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abhinav","middleName":"","lastName":"Sharma","suffix":""},{"id":639071539,"identity":"38ceb25a-bf1a-487b-997b-5464263e3d4a","order_by":3,"name":"Navinya Dilip Chimurkar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aarhus University, Denmark","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Navinya","middleName":"Dilip","lastName":"Chimurkar","suffix":""},{"id":639071540,"identity":"29942dac-c487-4786-9d3a-6d104a56abce","order_by":4,"name":"Harish C. 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While policies such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks have promoted a much-needed transition to cleaner fuels, supply chain disruptions have triggered a rapid reversion to polluting alternatives in the commercial hospitality sector.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing hourly meteorological and atmospheric observations during the crisis, we observe a shift towards the alternatives in Delhi. While nitrogen oxides (NO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e) declined, reflecting reduced vehicular activity, concentrations of PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e, carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) increased significantly. During peak evening hours, Low-density restaurant neighbourhoods exhibited a 29.3% increase in SO₂ and a 48.2% increase in CO, while the high-density neighbourhoods showed a ~32% increase in CO, indicating a shift toward inefficient, high-Sulphur solid-fuel combustion. 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