News 3 November 2021
A new corporate coalition, the Alliance for Clean Air, was launched by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Clean Air Fund at COP26 in Glasgow today.
The 10 founding corporate members of the alliance, which come from industries as diverse as transport, technology and retail, have committed to:
- measuring and decreasing their air pollution footprint
- using their assets innovatively to accelerate clean air solutions and
- champion clean air with customers and other stakeholders.
Alliance for Clean Air
The 10 companies are: Accenture, Bloomberg, Biogen, Google, GoTo, IKEA, Maersk, Mahindra Group, Siemens and Wipro.
Many founding members have already started using their businesses to address air pollution. For example, IKEA’s Better Air Now project produces products from crop stubble (which would otherwise be burnt) or Google’s Project Air View fits its Street View cars with pollution sensors to measure air quality.
Find out more about IKEA’s Better Air Now project
Find out more about Google’s Project Air View
Vital role for business
Speaking at the launch, Clean Air Fund’s Executive Director, Jane Burston underlined the crucial role business can play in tackling the health- and climate-related challenge of air pollution.
Action on air pollution and climate change is urgently needed and the public are demanding it. Governments are starting to make the connections between addressing toxic air and tackling climate change but, until now, we have not seen nearly enough concerted action from businesses.”
Jane Burston, Executive Director of Clean Air Fund
Praising the founding companies for their bold leadership, Jane noted: “we are at the very start of the journey, a journey which promises to show what a vital role the private sector can play in improving air quality and saving lives.”
Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Mahindra Group, which is one of the ten founding members said: “The Mahindra Group is proud to be one of the founding members of the Alliance for Clean Air, which aims to tackle the problem of air pollution at scale by helping businesses measure their own impact, influence their value chain and mobilize people and resources to make air breathable for everyone.”
Practical guide to unlock business action
Also at COP26, a practical guide for businesses on how to measure air pollution across value chains is being introduced by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and Stockholm Environment Institute, in co-operation with IKEA. The guide will support companies to understand their impact on air quality and to take necessary actions to reduce their emissions.