Blog 27 May 2025
Air pollution in cities is a major threat to public health, with serious social and economic consequences. In 2021, more than 700,000 children under 5 died from causes linked to air pollution; this represents 15% of all global deaths in this age group. But although air pollution is a global problem, its effects are disproportionate – and it is often those who are already the most disadvantaged who face the highest levels of exposure and the worst impacts. Furthermore, the people most affected by toxic air are usually those who have contributed the least to its causes.
This inequality is the result of intersecting factors including where people live and work, their individual health status, and their access to information about air quality and health – which is also unequal. These circumstances in turn stem from a number of historical and systemic socioeconomic factors.
Clean air action is a transformative opportunity. By reducing the toxic pollutants that affect our air and worsen the climate crisis, cities can deliver major public health and wellbeing benefits and fairly distributed economic growth.
C40 cities are at the forefront of these efforts, with C40 mayors exemplifying the bold leadership needed to reduce air pollution while building more resilient and thriving cities. Check out the interactive map below to explore how cities are delivering inclusive and equitable clean air action in a practical way.
Opportunities to support communities through clean air action
Mayors and their cities are uniquely placed to lead the way in delivering urgent and much needed clean air action. With their many soft powers – including strong mobilisation powers – and their close proximity to residents, city governments have an in-depth understanding of the complexities in driving major shifts within key sectors. Cities also play a key role in providing responsive basic services and responding in moments of crisis – making them best placed to mobilise resources quickly and deliver ambitious, innovative, and transformative measures for people and the planet.
Mayors around the world recognise five fundamental opportunities to support thriving and resilient communities through clean air action:
- Reducing health inequities by coordinating with health sectors to ensure the health benefits from clean air are felt by everyone. Benefits include increased life expectancy, reduced risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, improved maternal health, and reduced pressure on health services.
- Improving accessibility, wellbeing, and resilience by leveraging tools across key sectors to enhance access to inclusive public places and services, promote active mobility, revitalise green infrastructure, and improve physical and mental health.
- Delivering fair, green jobs and a just transition, in key sectors such as transport, energy, and waste, by supporting skills-building and training; improving workplace health and safety; and promoting inclusive and empowering workplace cultures.
- Tackling cost-of-living challenges and supporting local economies by reducing households’ financial burden, mitigating exposure to household air pollution, reducing energy and health costs, and improving wellbeing.
- Building coalitions of clean air advocates and allies to foster collaborative air quality governance that empowers communities, improves health literacy, and strengthens trust through inclusive decision-making.
To learn more, check out our report: Clean air, healthy and thriving communities: Opportunities for city leadership.
How cities are delivering inclusive clean air action
Across the globe, mayors and their teams are implementing practical, bold, and urgent measures to tackle toxic air in a way that supports communities – especially those at the frontline of air pollution impacts. Cities in the Clean Air Accelerator and Breathe Cities initiatives are leading the way, with inclusive processes and equitable, data-driven clean air policies to address emissions from the highest-polluting sectors.
1. Improving access to healthy, safe, and resilient public spaces
By reallocating space from motorised vehicles to people, and democratising the use of these public spaces, cities are enabling more sustainable modes of transportation while increasing residents’ sense of belonging and community. Using spatial, pollution, health, and socioeconomic data, cities ensure that clean air improvements reach the neighbourhoods that need them most, reducing health inequities.
2. Improving access to public transport and cleaner vehicles
Mayors are expanding, improving, and cleaning their public transport networks, using universal design principles and promoting mobility environments that are safer and more accessible, convenient, and reliable for people moving across cities. They target under-served areas where better public transport can most improve economic and educational inclusion.
3. Promoting healthier and more sustainable homes
Through the energy and building sectors, cities are improving living conditions and indoor air quality in households, while promoting lower energy costs and a reduction in the use of dirty fuels. This in turn reduces the costs associated with providing medical care for respiratory illnesses, and addresses the high energy costs that are driving poverty in cities.
4. Creating fair, green job opportunities in the transport, waste, industrial, or energy and buildings sectors
Air quality action supports a just transition away from fossil fuels in these key sectors, leading to safer and healthier working environments, and training and capacity-building opportunities that reduce the skills gap for marginalised communities, young people, women, and the unemployed. In this way, cities are helping to protect incomes while reducing health costs and household bills, benefiting businesses, and ultimately supporting more resilient economies.
5. Expanding and enhancing air quality monitoring, communication, and transparency
To open dialogue, empower residents, and promote collaborative air quality governance: Cities are ensuring that stakeholders have clear, accessible, and transparent information about air pollution and the benefits of action, helping to build public support, drive local initiatives, and mobilise residents in support of air quality action. Community-led air quality action includes participatory monitoring, campaigns, and securing funding for local solutions.
For more sector-focused information on what cities are doing, check out C40’s Clean Air Accelerator Report 2024.
While local governments are in a unique position to advance clean air action and improve residents’ quality of life, progress depends on strong collaboration among stakeholders at all levels – from civil society and businesses to regional and national governments and international partners. By working together, mobilising different sources of funding, and sharing air quality, health, and socioeconomic data to inform decisions, cities can accelerate clean air action and bring fairly distributed benefits to communities as soon as possible.
