Pollution Without Passports: Power, Inequality, and Transboundary Air Pollution

Introduction

Air pollution is often viewed as a localized issue: cities cite traffic, regions cite industrial emissions, and countries cite increased development pressure. However, the atmosphere is unaffected by this knowledge, because the air above a country is affected not only by emissions from that country alone but also by what has drifted in from other countries.

Pollution travels across state and national borders via seasonal wind and weather patterns and atmospheric chemistry. Despite this, accountability and regulation for transboundary air pollution remain limited, leaving responsibility localized.

This disconnect between how air pollution moves and how governments address transboundary air pollution creates a global imbalance that scholars and activists often refer to as climate colonialism, in which transboundary air pollution moves and impacts communities with the least power. At the same time, those who have historically or economically benefited continue to dominate the discourse, data, and decision-making.

The Science of Pollution That Travels

To understand air pollution as a regional, if not global, problem, it’s helpful to understand atmospheric dynamics. Some types of air pollutants are particularly mobile:

• PM_2.5 is so small that it can enter the bloodstream

• Black carbon (soot) is a type of particle that harms human health and contributes to warming

• Precursor gases, like sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x), can undergo chemical transformations to create secondary particulate matter

  
  

These pollutants can remain suspended for days or weeks. During that time, they can be transported from one place to another by prevailing winds, monsoon circulations, and seasonal climate patterns. Satellite technology and atmospheric modelling consistently show that emissions from one area can cause serious degradation of air quality hundreds to thousands of kilometers away. For example, in South Asia, the air quality of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is defined by common air quality mechanisms that combine urban and industrial emissions, coal-fired energy generation, and agricultural burning within the same air mass.

While the atmosphere functions as a connected system, governance systems are fragmented and largely nationalized.

Climate Colonialism in the Air 

Climate colonialism refers to how the economic framework that supports commerce and accepted practices in major economic regions has created an environment in which powerful regions benefit from resource use and industrial growth. In contrast, developing regions often suffer from environmental degradation and adverse health impacts. The relocation of polluting industries from wealthier to poorer nations due to stricter regulations has created a situation in which developing regions bear the health costs of industrialization without receiving the economic benefits.

For example, even if pollution is considered a problem of the producing nation, the factors that create it are linked to global consumption patterns and international trade. Air pollution is not merely the result of development, but of economic structures and their ongoing capacity to create conditions in which some groups of people have access to clean air, while others do not; thus creating flight from populations with fewer rights to clean air.

India in a Shared Airshed

With its high population density and numerous industries, India is at the center of an industrially active and populous region. The problems with air quality in the region are real and urgent; however, they are also interrelated with regional atmospheric conditions. Air quality issues are created by seasonal weather systems that transport dust, smoke, and industrial pollutants across borders. Sources of regional pollution include agricultural burning, fossil-fuel combustion, brick-making, construction dust, and vehicle emissions. Thus, the pollution load caused by these sources will not remain confined to a single country.

Therefore, air quality in northern India, for example, will be affected not only by local sources but also by emissions from other countries transported across the globe to reach the northern Indian air mass. The same holds for other countries in the target region that are downwind of India's urban and industrial corridors. Despite this shared atmospheric condition, most air quality policies are designed at the domestic or subnational level. As a result, air quality policies in these countries usually measure emissions from sources within their borders and are based on government regulations, primarily focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions rather than regional aerosols and particulate matter.

Health Burdens Without Equal Power

The distribution of air pollution is not equal throughout the world nor within society. Low-income individuals living in urban areas near highways, industry, and waste-burning facilities are usually most affected by outdoor air pollution. Rural populations living near areas where agriculture is burned or where dust is generated are also affected. Informal workers with long hours outdoors also bear a disproportionate burden of outdoor air pollution. Children and the elderly are particularly susceptible to the effects of air pollution.

These groups have little to no ability to move away from where they live, access healthcare, or influence public policy. Furthermore, when air pollutants cross borders, those affected have very little political power to influence pollution sources in other countries. These factors give rise to layered forms of injustice: local inequalities within nations and regional inequalities between nations. Therefore, those who suffer the most from air pollution often have the least voice in national and global decision-making processes.

Air pollution is not only a public health issue; it also reflects who has had their lives protected by the system and who have been treated as collateral damage from an economy that produces harmful air pollutants.

Data, Knowledge, and Who Gets Counted

The climate colonialism aspect that focuses on air also centers on who has the means to generate knowledge about it. High-income countries and wealthy institutions largely control advanced technologies for air monitoring, access to satellite systems, and large-scale atmospheric models. This leaves many areas of the Global South at a disadvantage in terms of having adequate ground-based monitoring networks.

This inequity influences:

• The pollution sources that are understood in detail

• The measurement and dissemination of exposure

• The risks that are noted internationally

  
  

When data is limited, health burdens are underestimated or inaccurately portrayed. Localised knowledge is often neglected; globally, many narratives rely more on data created by others than on communities' firsthand accounts. Air quality science is powerful, but not impartial. The placement of monitoring devices, the prioritisation of certain pollutants, and the vocabulary used to describe the results can affect the visibility of some people's suffering while leaving others’ suffering entirely unreported.

Conclusion: Shared Air, Divided Responsibility

Air pollution across national borders highlights the disparity between how people around the globe access clean air and how they create pollution. When looking at improving the quality of air in India and neighboring countries, the only way to accomplish cleaner air is through collaboration at the regional level, as well as increased scientific collaboration and recognition that air pollution is impacted by the way we produce, consume, and exert power globally, as well as by the use of technology and regulatory processes.

Air pollution from climate colonialism is not always easy to see in factory smokestacks, nor is it detectable in statistical data. Some examples of climate colonialism occur through invisible, ordinary processes, such as air crossing a national border, which causes harm without accountability.

A Collective Responsibility

In this modern age, air quality is everyone's responsibility. Each action we take can contribute to a healthier planet. Planting trees, choosing public transportation, or supporting local clean air initiatives can make a difference. Awareness is the first step toward change.

Join us in advocating for cleaner air. Together, we can help nature regain its voice.

Let’s work together to ensure our world thrives in harmony with nature.