Africa is pushing to secure more clean air financing

Africa wants a larger share of global philanthropic funding for outdoor air quality to combat severe urban pollution and health risks, with air pollution linked to 1.2 million premature deaths every year on the continent, making it the second leading risk factor for death across the continent, second only to malnutrition, and placing it well above the long-discussed issues of unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene.

According to the Clean Air Fund’s State of Global Air Quality Funding 2025 Report, the African region receives less than 1% of global air quality funding, despite several countries in Africa experiencing high levels of exposure, forcing many of them to pivot toward internal and integrated financial models.

Indeed, the report highlights that between 2019 and 2023, most outdoor air quality financing – which is the financial support given by governments, development banks, and charities to projects that reduce air pollution and monitor outdoor air quality – was concentrated in just three countries, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and China – which together accounted for 65% of such funding.

What’s worse, the report finds that between 2022 and 2023, there was a confounding 69% year-on-year decline in outdoor air quality funding flowing to Africa, with Sub-Saharan Africa receiving less than 1% of the total international development money in 2023 alone.

Martina Otto, Head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat at the UN Environment Programme, now believes that the current proportion should be higher for a continent that is brutally exposed to oversized climate threats.

“Clean air is not only a public health imperative, but it is also an investment in sustainable development, resilient cities, and economic opportunity. In other words, the investment in clean air in Africa is strong,” says Otto, calling for the creation of a dedicated platform for governments, civil society, funders, and researchers to come together to accelerate action on clean air and super pollutants.

Such actions, according to Otto, should include clean air policies, stronger regional cross–border partnerships, and data–driven compliance frameworks.

“We demonstrate that the existence of frameworks is not enough to ensure the effective mitigation of air pollution, due to challenges such as financial constraints, lack of government commitment, limited engagement of the communities, and availability of data to inform decision-making,” noted the report’s drafters.