LAHORE: The Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) has launched the Centre for Air Pollution and Environment (CAPE) to identify the sources of air pollution in Punjab.

The centre has been established with a major grant from Coefficient Giving, which is funding a multi-year, multi-site study to identify and quantify the major contributors to particulate air pollution across Punjab.

The project also includes establishing a state-of-the-art laboratory for the chemical analysis of air pollutants.

Lums Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering’s Dr Qasim Imtiaz is leading the centre as its founding director. Dr Farah Said, Dr Shahana Khurshid and Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering Dean Dr Walther Schwarzacher are members of the CAPE team.

Speaking at the launch, Lums Provost Dr Tariq Mahmood Jadoon said CAPE was established for stronger scientific evidence to address air pollution.

Dr Schwarzacher also spoke about the centre’s establishment within the school.

Dr Imtiaz said there was a need of systematic measurement that tells us which sources contribute to particulate pollution and by how much to address air pollution effectively.

He said CAPE will build the evidence and work with government, researchers, and communities to translate it into targeted interventions that protect public health.

He said the centre’s work would focus on understanding pollution sources and their impacts, assessing indoor air quality in schools and strengthening links between scientific evidence, communities and policy.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2026