2023 CleanAir NDC SCORECARD

The 2023 CleanAir NDC Scorecard by the Global Climate and Health Alliance analyzes 170 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to assess how governments integrate air quality and health considerations into their climate plans. The report finds that while most NDCs mention air quality, there is a significant gap in quantifying health impacts and establishing forward-looking targets, with low- and middle-income countries generally showing higher levels of integration than high-income nations.

• Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) lead in integrating air quality into their NDCs, with an average score of 3.5/15 compared to 2.9/15 for high-income countries. Specifically, 14 of the 15 top-scoring countries are LMICs, including Colombia and Mali, which both achieved 12/15 points.
• There is a widespread failure to recognize the health impacts of air pollution within national climate plans; fewer than one-third of the analyzed NDCs (51 out of 170) refer to these impacts. This means approximately 6 billion people live in countries where the synergies between climate and healthy air are not recognized.
• While 164 of 170 NDCs mention air quality and 119 consider at least two health-harming pollutants, there is a lack of actionable planning. Only 32 NDCs include projections, monitoring, or forward-looking targets.
• Financial and economic considerations regarding air quality are severely underrepresented, with only 17 of 170 NDCs mentioning budgets, costs, or returns on investment. Only 1 in 10 NDCs refer to air quality in the context of financial or economic considerations.
• A significant disconnect exists between NDC scores and actual air pollution mortality. For example, India has a mortality rate of 119.9 per 100,000 population but scored only 2/15. China scored higher at 7/15 but maintains a mortality rate of 129.9 per 100,000.
• Six countries received a score of 0/15, indicating a total absence of air quality integration in their NDCs: Bahrain, Nauru, North Korea, Palau, Saudi Arabia, and Solomon Islands.

APA

Global Climate and Health Alliance (2023). 2023 CleanAir NDC SCORECARD. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clean-Air-NDC-Scorecard_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Global Climate and Health Alliance. 2023 CleanAir NDC SCORECARD. 2023. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clean-Air-NDC-Scorecard_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Climate and Health Alliance |title=2023 CleanAir NDC SCORECARD |date=2023 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clean-Air-NDC-Scorecard_FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalclimateandhealthalliance20232023, author = {{Global Climate and Health Alliance}}, title = {{2023 CleanAir NDC SCORECARD}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, year = {2023}, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clean-Air-NDC-Scorecard_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }