News

The first-ever dedicated Health Day at COP28 brought together over 50 ministers of health to join their climate counterparts. Our Head of Health, Nina Renshaw, reflects on three major health announcements and what action is still needed to protect people and planet.

9 cities in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe will join London and Warsaw to receive support to clean their air as part of a $30 million initiative supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clean Air Fund and C40 Cities. Breathe Cities aims to contribute to cutting air pollution by 30% by 2030 and prevent 39,000 premature deaths in selected cities

Black carbon emissions fuel climate change, but this pollutant is still largely untracked and uncapped by governments. As COP28 kicks off, it’s time the global climate community reassesses and addresses this critical element of the climate crisis.

Bulgaria’s capital introduced the first low emission zone in Eastern Europe on 1 December. Sofia’s bold clean air measures targeting polluting vehicles and domestic heating will reap numerous benefits for residents.

There is growing evidence that extreme temperatures and air pollution combined pose a greater risk to public health. But a range of measures can decrease the impact of heat on our health and reduce exposure to air pollution at the same time.

$19.2bn could be saved by 2040, reveals our updated analysis of six African cities, including Nairobi and Yaoundé. By adopting air quality measures, African governments can generate billions in economic benefits in their rapidly growing cities.

From the first evidence of improved air quality lowering dementia risk, to using mud to track historical air pollution, here’s your roundup of the latest air quality news.

The EU has taken another step towards adopting the World Health Organization's air pollution guidelines to protect the health and livelihood of 450 million people. But we need to see improvements to the European Council’s position on the Ambient Air Quality Directive to avoid countless unnecessary illness and deaths in the EU’s lower income regions.

Existing inequalities put some people at greater risk of the impacts of air pollution, which in turn exacerbates the same inequalities. Galvanising Ghana’s young people to bring greater public awareness to air pollution and advocate for policy implementation can deliver clean air for the hardest hit communities.

Barriers to accessing social and health services leave Sofia's Roma community particularly vulnerable to Bulgaria's dirty air problem. The Trust for Social Achievement engaged with Sofia's Roma community to understand their intersectional challenges and the need for cross-sectoral solutions.