Publications
World Emission Network’s peer-reviewed research portfolio
Featured Manuscripts
Evaluation of India’s National Clean Air Program Performance and Potential Health Benefits
Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2026)
This study provides the first comprehensive evaluation of India’s National Clean Air Program (NCAP), assessing observed air quality improvements and estimating potential health benefits under proposed reduction targets. (ARTICLE)
PM2.5 exposures increased for the majority of Indians and a third of the global population during COVID-19 lockdowns
Environmental Research Letters (2022)
Despite historically clean ambient air during COVID-19 lockdowns, residential biomass cooking led to increased PM₂.₅ exposures for 65% of Indians and over one-third of the global population, revealing profound indoor air pollution inequities.
Municipal Solid Waste and Dung Cake Burning: Discoloring the Taj Mahal & Human Health Impacts in Agra
Environmental Research Letters (2016)
Using high-resolution emissions modeling, we show that open municipal solid waste burning—not dung cake combustion—is the dominant contributor to PM₂.₅ deposition on the Taj Mahal and is responsible for hundreds of premature deaths annually in Agra.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
2026
- RM. Lal “Sensitive Receptors, Similar Air: Evaluating Ambient Air Pollution at Vulnerable Microenvironments”, in preparation.
- RM. Lal “Global health and equity outcomes of achieving national and WHO PM2.5 standards,” in review, ES&T-Air, available upon request
- RM. Lal and AS. Nagpure, “Evaluation of India’s National Clean Air Program performance and potential health benefits,” ES&T-Letters
2025
- RM. Lal, AS. Nagpure, A. Anand, S. Maji, K. Tibrewal, G. Gupta, C. Venkataraman, KK Tong, “Transboundary emission contribution to PM2.5-air quality in Indian cities,” Environmental Research Letters
- KS. Rautela, MK. Goyal, AS. Nagpure, “Unequal spatio-temporal distribution of population-weighted pollution extremes through deep learning,” npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
2024
- RM. Lal, AS. Nagpure, A. Anand, S. Maji, K. Tibrewal, G. Gupta, C. Venkataraman, KK Tong, “Transboundary emission contribution to PM2.5-air quality in Indian cities,” Environmental Research Letters
- KS. Rautela, MK. Goyal, AS. Nagpure, “Unequal spatio-temporal distribution of population-weighted pollution extremes through deep learning,” npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
2022
- AS. Nagpure and RM. Lal, “PM2.5 exposures increased for the majority of Indians and a third of the global population during COVID-19 lockdowns: a residential biomass burning and environmental justice perspective,” Environmental Research Letters
- RM. Lal, K. Tibrewal, C. Venkataraman, KK Tong, A. Fang, Q. Ma, S. Wang, J. Kaiser, A. Ramaswami, AG Russell, “Impact of circular waste-heat reuse pathways on PM2.5-air quality, human health, and CO2 emissions in India; comparison with material exchange potential,” Environmental Science and Technology
2016
- RM. Lal, AS. Nagpure, L. Luo, SN. Tripathi, A. Ramaswami, MH. Bergin, AG. Russell, “Municipal Solid Waste and Dung Cake Burning: Discoloring the Taj Mahal & Human Health Impacts in Agra,” Environmental Research Letters
Please refer to the Google Scholar profiles linked on the Team Bios page for a complete list of WEN manuscripts