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New report on global air quality funding
The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2023 report, produced by Clean Air Fund in partnership with Climate Policy Initiative, was released today. The report provides a global snapshot of outdoor air quality funding between 2015 and 2021 and highlights opportunities for international development funders to do more. This report is an important tool for understanding the global air quality funding landscape and highlights the critical need to address disparities in research and policy development in many areas around the world.
Key findings from the report include:
Chronic underfunding persists: Air pollution was linked to 6.7 million deaths in 2019 alone. However, just 1% of all international development funding (or $17.3 billion) was expressly committed to targeting outdoor air pollution between 2015 and 2021. Only 2% of international public climate finance ($11.6 billion) went towards tackling air pollution in that same period.
Notable funding gaps exist: Nearly 1 million deaths were linked to air pollution in Africa in 2019. However, Africa received only 5% (or $0.76 billion) of all air quality funding between 2017-2021
Early signs of a positive shift: In 2019, fossil fuel was linked to nearly a million deaths globally. In 2021, for the first time, international development funding for clean air projects exceeded funding for fossil fuel-prolonging projects. An estimated $2.3 billion was spent on tackling outdoor air pollution in low- and middle-income countries. In comparison, $1.5 billion was channeled to fossil fuel projects.
Note: HEI receives financial support from the Clean Air Fund for activities under its Global Health program.
