News 6 October 2026
Five of the world’s most polluted countries – Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo – received less than $2 per person to tackle air pollution in 2024.
This year’s edition of The State of Global Air Quality Funding shows that air quality improvement remains woefully underfunded despite being one of the world’s greatest public health challenges. In 2024, less than 1% of international development funding went to outdoor air quality projects.
This funding gap stands in contrast to the huge costs on societies that air pollution imposes, causing almost eight million premature deaths annually, with economic losses equivalent to 6% of global GDP.
Air quality funding is not going where pollution exposure and health risks are greatest. Funding remains worryingly low, concentrated on a limited number of places, and misaligned with countries facing the greatest burden. With development budgets under growing pressure, clean air objectives must be built into wider development investment, so every dollar works harder and delivers benefits for health, climate and economies at the same time.
Sean Maguire, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships at Clean Air Fund
The findings show that outdoor air quality funding is heavily focused in Southeast Asia but not reaching the countries with the highest exposure levels.
Southeast Asia accounts for more than a quarter of all outdoor air quality funding for 2020-2024, yet just two countries receive almost all of it.
Southeast Asia received the most outdoor air quality funding per person between 2020 and 2024 at US$6.7 per capita. In total, US$4.4 billion was committed to the region, spearheaded by Japan International Cooperation Agency and Asian Development Bank.
Yet 97% of that funding went to the Philippines and Indonesia, even though they have among the lowest levels of pollution in the region at the country-wide level. Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste received the lowest levels of total air quality funding in Southeast Asia, despite Lao PDR and Myanmar facing some of the highest PM2.5 exposure. The report finds that access to finance also appears to align with countries’ financial and institutional capacity.
While it is positive that the air pollution challenges of Southeast Asia are being recognised, funding for the region cannot be limited to a small number of countries, leaving some of the most polluted places behind. Investment in railways, public transport and cleaner mobility is demonstrating how better connectivity and economic development can go hand in hand with cleaner air. We need these benefits to be shared by many more people and places.
Dr Fu Lu, Regional Director for Southeast Asia at the Clean Air Fund
Although air quality as a global public health threat remains woefully underfunded, the analysis does show some promising signals of progress. Between 2023 and 2024, $4.7 billion was committed to outdoor air quality, almost returning to its 2022 peak. Yet despite this rebound, it still represents less than 1% of international development funding.
The challenge is whether these gains can be sustained and scaled amid shrinking aid budgets – especially as the data does not yet reflect the sharp contraction in Official Development Assistance in 2025.
Ahead of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, taking place 12 – 18 October in Bangkok, the report calls for funders to:
- Make clean air an explicit objective in country strategies, policies and investments – air quality should be explicitly part of projects led by Multilateral Development Banks, bilateral and multilateral funders, private funders and governments.
- Increase dedicated support for countries with high air pollution but limited borrowing capacity – such as diversifying funding sources like concessional finance, guarantees and technical assistance.
- Prioritise support for investments that cut pollution quickly and deliver rapid benefits – including accelerating action on super pollutants like black carbon and ozone precursors.
Tracking where air quality finance actually flows is an essential first step to addressing the gaps. Our analysis shows that money is not yet consistently following need, and that countries facing some of the highest pollution levels often have the least access to finance. As aid budgets tighten, funders need clear evidence to better target resources where they are needed most.
Barbara Buchner, CEO of Climate Policy Initiative
