$30 million project launched to improve air quality in cities

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Clean Air Fund and C40 Cities have launched a US$30 million clean air initiative to boost resilience in cities globally.

Breathe Cities will fund technical support, air quality data, community engagement and capacity-building for a group of cities that will be announced later this year.

The announcement was made by Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who also serves as the chair of the C40 climate network.

“As chair of C40 Cities, I am committed to working collaboratively across national borders and city boundaries to tackle air pollution and address the climate crisis,” said Mayor Khan.

“Toxic air pollution is a public health crisis in many of our cities – leading to premature death and chronic disease.”

“Countries in the Global South – which have contributed the least to climate change throughout history – are most severely affected, bearing the brunt of climate chaos,” he added.

Urban pollution

Almost no urban area has air quality that meets the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the Clean Air Fund, and 41 percent of cities globally have air pollution over seven times higher than the WHO’s recommendations.

Breathe Cities focuses on four key pillars to support municipal leaders: data and research; stakeholder and community engagement; technical policy assistance; and lesson-sharing.

This aims to expand the availability of local air quality data and build awareness and support for air quality action in communities.

“Clean air is a fundamental necessity for everyone to live, grow and thrive,” said Jane Burston, executive director, Clean Air Fund. “That is why we are proud to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies and C40 Cities, to tackle air pollution in cities across the world.

“By advancing action at the local level, promoting new data and technologies, and building a robust network to share valuable lessons along with fostering community cohesion, we are collectively empowering cities to improve air quality and address one of the greatest public health problems of our time.”

Existing programmes

Mayor Khan called for the creation of Breathe Cities at the COP26 climate conference in 2021 to build upon the Breathe London programme.

The initiative, which is run by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London, combines air pollution science, toxicology and epidemiology to determine the impacts of air pollution on health in the UK capital.

The new programme also builds on existing efforts led by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Clean Air Fund in Brussels, Jakarta, Milan, Paris and Warsaw.

Bloomberg Philanthropies also supports the City of Denver’s Love My Air programme, which won US$1 million in the 2018 Mayors Challenge. The initiative deployed air quality sensors to track and share hyper-local air quality data at Denver public schools.

Image: ana-paula-grimaldi-unsplash