The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2024

This executive summary from the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes international development funding for outdoor air quality projects from 2018 to 2022. It highlights a chronic underfunding of clean air efforts, which represent only 1% of total international development funding, and notes a significant imbalance in funding distribution and a reliance on loans over grants.

• International development funding for clean air efforts reached $4.7 billion in 2022, returning to pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019 ($4.6 billion). However, this amount represents only 1% of all international development funding.
• Air quality funding is heavily skewed toward loans, with 92% of funding provided as loans, compared to a 63% share of grant funding for total Official Development Assistance in 2022.
• Funding is distributed unevenly across regions and income levels. Between 2018 and 2022, the Philippines received $4.7 billion, which was more than three times the combined funding for every country in Africa and the Middle East ($1.5 billion). Additionally, per capita funding for low-income countries like Chad and Somalia ($2) was significantly lower than for upper middle-income countries like Serbia and Costa Rica ($73).
• Funding for projects that prolong the use of fossil fuels increased by 350%, rising from $1.2 billion in 2021 to $5.4 billion in 2022.
• Despite the shared causes of air pollution and climate crises, less than 3% of international public climate finance explicitly targeted air quality improvements from 2018 to 2022. Specifically, projects targeting black carbon received only 0.1% of outdoor air quality funding, totaling $18 million out of $16 billion.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2024). The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-state-of-global-air-quality-funding-2024/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2024. 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-state-of-global-air-quality-funding-2024/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2024 |date=10 October 2024 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-state-of-global-air-quality-funding-2024/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2024state, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2024}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-state-of-global-air-quality-funding-2024/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }