Today, during the COP28 Local Climate Action Summit, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clean Air Fund, and C40 Cities announced a new cohort of cities across Africa to benefit from funding, technical support, air quality data, community engagement, capacity building, and additional support as part of the Breathe Cities clean air initiative.
The new cohort of Breathe Cities includes Accra, Ghana; Johannesburg, South Africa and Nairobi, Kenya. This new cohort of cities will receive support to enhance air quality data, community engagement, capacity building, and more as part of a $30 million initiative. This aims to reduce air pollution, slash carbon emissions, and enhance public health.
Through an evidence-based strategy, combining data, policy, and community engagement, Breathe Cities has the ambitious goal of contributing to reducing air pollution by 30 percent on average across participating cities by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. Such a bold reduction would prevent an estimated 39,000 premature deaths and around 79,000 new cases of asthma in children each decade, saving $107 billion in avoided hospitalizations and deaths. By 2030, a total of 284 Megatonnes3 of CO2e emissions would be avoided among participating cities – a monumental win for both people and the planet.
“Toxic air pollution is a dual threat, impacting both the public health of our cities as well as furthering the climate crisis,” said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London and co-chair of C40 Cities. “As co-chair of C40 Cities, I’ve seen how collaboration can accelerate progress on the challenges we face. By partnering with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Clean Air Fund, we will be able to provide cities with the data and capacity they need to push for stronger and more effective policies that reduce air pollution and deliver cleaner, healthier air to their residents.”
“One of the most effective ways to tackle climate change and protect public health is through reducing air pollution,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “With the right technology, data and policy, cities can lead the way in cleaning the air. Bloomberg Philanthropies is looking forward to working with these cities to help them implement ambitious solutions that will help improve and save lives.”
“Empowering cities to tackle air pollution will have a direct impact on public health and wellbeing and unlock a host of wider economic and environmental benefits,” said Jane Burston, CEO, Clean Air Fund.
The cities announced today will join together in a first-of-its-kind partnership to exchange knowledge and scale local impact. Carefully selected for their commitment to advancing ambitious policies addressing the dual challenges of air pollution and climate emissions, the participating local governments were chosen based on criteria such as geographic diversity, air pollution and emissions intensity, engaged civil society, strong political interest and leadership, scalability potential, and capacity to implement action plans, among other metrics.
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Air pollution is one of the most urgent global issues. Almost no urban area has air quality that meets the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Forty-one percent of cities have air pollution over seven times higher than WHO’s recommendation, meaning their residents are breathing dangerously polluted air that can cause a suite of health issues such as asthma and respiratory illnesses. Air pollution is also associated with 7 million premature deaths each year.
