As Indian cities grapple with rising motorisation and worsening air pollution, the fourth edition of the Driving Change Dialogue examined what it will take to make urban transport cleaner, more inclusive, and better aligned with public health goals. Bringing together experts from transport planning and air quality governance, the discussion highlighted the policy reforms and institutional changes needed to drive lasting improvements.

The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC India) hosted this Dialogue on July 14, 2026, at the UChicago Center in Delhi. Titled ‘From Mobility to Breathability: Transport, Emissions and Public Health in India’s Cities,’ the session brought together Dr. O.P. Agarwal, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog, and Dr. Virinder Sharma, Member (Technical), Commission for Air Quality Management, for a conversation moderated by Ms. Kratika Narain, Project Manager, EPIC India.

Opening the session, Dr. Leni Chaudhari, Executive Director of the UChicago Center in Delhi, spoke about the organisation’s ongoing work with the Government of NCT of Delhi, from vehicle emissions testing to the city’s electric mobility transition, and framed the discussion within a broader push for evidence-based policymaking on urban mobility and air quality.

The two decades since India’s National Urban Transport Policy have brought real investment in public transport, Dr. O.P Agarwal said, but that investment has gone disproportionately to metro rail. He added, “To truly reduce dependence on private vehicles, we must also invest in buses, walking infrastructure, and seamless last-mile connectivity that make public transport the preferred choice.”
The panel stressed that that the fix isn’t cleaner engines alone but a public transport system reliable enough to make the switch worth it, including premium bus services aimed at pulling commuters away from two-wheelers and cars.

Dr. Virinder Sharma turned the conversation to who actually breathes this pollution. Traffic personnel, street vendors, delivery workers, and other outdoor workers spend the most time exposed to PM10, PM2.5, ozone, and NOx, and two-wheeler riders, despite being the fastest-growing group of commuters, are among the most exposed of all. Poorer communities, he noted, carry a disproportionate share of the health burden simply because their livelihoods keep them on the road.

A recurring thread was the limits of India’s current response to vehicular emissions-led pollution. Dr. Sharma was pointed about the Graded Response Action Plan, arguing that air quality management can’t remain a winter emergency exercise triggered by GRAP alerts.
He added, “Transport emissions are not just an environmental challenge. They are also a public health challenge. Protecting people’s health requires year-round action, stronger institutional coordination, and policies that address pollution at its source.”

As the conversation progressed, both speakers pointed to the absence of a unified metropolitan transport authority as a structural weakness in how the National Capital Region (NCR) manages both mobility and air quality. Other steps on the table included a common framework for reporting pollution data across NCR states through the Pawan portal, registration and monitoring of aggregator fleets starting with Haryana, and transitioning contract carriage, school, and cluster buses to BS6 or electric under the Parivartan scheme.

More than 20 participants from government, philanthropy, academia, research institutions, and the development sector joined the discussion that followed, raising questions on enforcement, financing, and what a regional approach to clean air would actually take.

Cleaner air in Indian cities, the panel agreed, will not come from better vehicles alone. It will come from transport systems designed around the people who use them, and institutions willing to plan for that year-round, across state lines.

The Driving Change series, convened under the EPIC India Transport vertical, is designed as a platform for sustained, expert-focused engagement on critical questions at the intersection of transport emissions and air quality policy. This edition built on three earlier Driving Change conferences held over the last year and a half, which brought together senior government officials, researchers, and sector experts to examine structural shifts in India’s clean mobility landscape.