For inquiries contact:
Beth Elliott: beth.elliott@wri.org or Daniel Ibanez: daniel.ibanez@wri.org
News
Pink is the New Green: How Indore’s Growing Electric Bus Fleet Is Driving Progress on Air Quality and Women’s Empowerment
Anuradha Shukla, age 29, no longer needs to face the common difficulties of using public transportation to travel approximately 15 kilometers from her residence in Indore to her office in Vijay Nagar.
Program Update: Clean Air Catalyst Indore Showcased at State Clean Air Workshop
The Clean Air Catalyst Indore pilot was featured at a state-level workshop held last week by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP). The goals of the workshop, held in Indore, were to take stock of the current state of air quality mitigation activities underway in Madhya Pradesh’s largest cities and to enable the sharing of policy strategies to expedite progress. Key dignitaries present include Gulshan Bamra, the Principal Secretary of the Environment Department, who chaired the workshop, and Dr. Prashant Gargava, Director of NCAP.
EJN Workshop Trains 49 Journalists and Editors to Cover Air Pollution in Nairobi, Kenya
Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to human health, economy, and the world's ecological balance. In the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, studies have shown that air quality is consistently poor, with average annual PM2.5 levels—a measure of air pollution—more than double the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline levels. Furthermore, the ever-increasing population and the intensification of industries, deforestation, construction work, and vehicular traffic, has caused the air quality to worsen over the years.
Unveiling Solutions: A Local Clean Air Champion's Approach to Gender and Air Pollution in Indore
In December 2023, Clean Air Catalyst organized a workshop in Indore focused on women’s empowerment and training as clean air advocates. At the workshop, the Catalyst team caught up with Anupa Gokhale, program director at Pahal Jan Sahayog Vikas Sansthan, a community NGO in Indore, to hear her insights on strategies for empowering women and girls in the fight against air pollution.
Charting the Course for Gender-Responsive Clean Air Action in Nairobi
To realize gender equality in their cities, governments need to have the necessary gender information and data to inform equitable policy design, but many governments lack this crucial gender data. To help fill this data gap, the Clean Air Catalyst Nairobi team is leading a gender-responsive emission inventory (EI).
Women are Taking on Indore’s Air Pollution Crisis by Transforming the Transport Sector
Indore is on a transformative journey to clean up its air, and women are at the forefront of this transformation. In a workshop held last December, the Clean Air Catalyst Indore team aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the disproportionate impacts of air pollution on women and other vulnerable communities and empower them as clean air champions.
Grassroot Actions Against Polluted Skies: How Jakarta's Urban Villages Tackle Air Pollution
On a Sunday afternoon last September, a group of about 30 individuals, including a group of mostly female neighbors from 9 kampungs (urban villages) in the greater Jakarta area, joined community activists, NGO representatives focused on serving the urban poor, and air pollution experts to participate in a Learning Circle organized by Clean Air Catalyst, a USAID-funded project led by WRI Indonesia. The workshop consisted of two days of lessons about the importance of air quality and monitoring, and a day of field visits to four kampungs.
Workshop Spotlights Role of Women and Girls as Clean Air Champions in Indore
In December, Clean Air Catalyst’s Indore team organized a gender empowerment and training workshop titled "Women in Clean Air." The goal of the workshop was to bring together women and air quality experts from across government, civil society, and the private sector to highlight the ways that women and girls are uniquely impacted by air quality and to generate ideas for how proposed policy solutions can better combat gender disparities in air pollution exposure.
Q&A with Pushyamitra Bhargav, Mayor of Indore, India
An in-depth interview with Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav about the city’s ongoing work to combat air pollution with Clean Air Catalyt’s Sudhir Gore.
Clean Air Catalyst Nairobi Joins 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
To commemorate 16 days of activism this year the Clean Air Catalyst partnered with Vital Strategies, Nairobi City County Government, Uraia Trust and GROOTS-Kenya to host the Women’s Dialogue Conference.
Clean Air Catalyst Jakarta leads a Learning Circles Workshop
WRI Indonesia through the Clean Air Catalyst collaborates with local partners to address air pollution sources, notably transportation. The Catalyst led a Learning Circle workshop, combining Women Empowerment Workshops and Gender Equality Training to engage diverse stakeholders, fostering understanding and advocacy.
Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav Participates in COP28
Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav is scheduled to visit Dubai on November 30 to take part in the World Climate Action Summit, with the esteemed presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Imagining a Healthier Diwali: Why some families are moving away from firecrackers
During the days of Diwali, there is much discussion about the pollution caused by fireworks, but there are a few rare individuals who ardently contribute at a personal level to fight against air pollution. Meet some of these clean air champions.
Nairobi Highlights Air Quality During Africa Climate Week
Against the backdrop of the Africa Union Climate Action Summit and Africa Climate Week, Nairobi hosted the UN Environment Programme’s fourth annual International Clean Air Day for blue skies event with H.E. Governor Sakaja Johnson on September 7th, 2023. This year’s theme, “#Together for Clean Air” (in Swahili, #PamojaKwaHewaSafi), focused on the need for strong partnerships, increased investment and shared responsibility to overcome air pollution.
Q&A with Harshika Singh, Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation
In a recent interview with Ms. Harshika Singh, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC)’s Commissioner, Sudhir Gore, Clean Air Catalyst’s Lead Communication Consultant, delved into the current air quality situation in Indore and the city's ambitious plans to become a model of clean air and sustainable urban development.
Black Gold: How Sale of Catalytic Converters Puts Lives in Danger
On a hot Friday midmorning, Mary Muthoni pulls in at a Roysambu roadside garage in Nairobi’s Kasarani in a red Nissan Juke. She wants the vehicle’s catalytic converter removed.
7 Things to Know About Jakarta’s Air Pollution Crisis
Air pollution spikes in the months of June, July and August are a regular feature of life in Jakarta, occurring annually with the onset of the dry season, following monsoonal patterns. This is when a lack of moisture in the atmosphere and other meteorological conditions combine with high emissions, mostly from the transport and industry sectors, to produce dangerously high levels of pollution. This year, El Niño and ever-rising human emissions have created an especially dangerous spike in pollution.
The Importance of Open Data for Improving Air Quality
More data are needed to make informed decisions about the many social, economic, and environmental challenges we face, including the fact that 99% of the world’s population is breathing unhealthy air. As Clean Air Catalyst develops and advances solutions toward cleaner air in Indore, Jakarta and Nairobi, data plays a key role. The local teams in these cities synthesize existing data with new data, analyze the data and integrate the findings with other scientific evidence and qualitative information to create a more complete understanding of who is being impacted by air pollution.
The Clean Air Catalyst Approach to Air Quality Monitoring
Clean Air Catalyst (Catalyst) operates under the theory that when people understand how pollution impacts them and their loved ones and what sources of pollution are affecting the air they breathe, they will have greater motivation to demand clean air and greater expertise to create solutions. Expanding air quality monitoring and connecting it to the sources and impacts of air pollution is a key component of the Catalyst’s data-to-action approach for Indore, India, Jakarta, Indonesia and Nairobi, Kenya, as explained below:
How Indore Became #1 in India’s 2023 Swachh Vaayu Survey (Clean Air Survey)
After a 6-year unbeaten run as India's cleanest city in terms of urban sanitation, Indore has attained a noteworthy milestone by achieving success in another national cleanliness survey. In the Central Pollution Control Board's Swachh Vaayu Sarvekshan (Clean Air Survey) of 2023, among cities with a population of over one million, Indore has secured the first position.