WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 29: A group of people wear face masks to protect against air pollution as they walk past the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 29, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Washington DC region is under a “Code Red” air quality alert today due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Philanthropic funding for tackling air pollution around the world appears to be slowing down, according to a new analysis.
The report by the Clean Air Fund claims philanthropic funding to improve outdoor air quality increased by only 2%, from $123.1 million in 2022 to $125.8 million in 2023.
Over the same period, the study adds international development funding for outdoor air quality dropped by $1 billion (20%), from $4.7 billion in 2022 to $3.7 billion in 2023.
It also claims philanthropic funding for outdoor air quality remains highly concentrated.
Between 2019 and 2023, the report says the top 10 funders contributed 52% of all philanthropic funding in this area, and as a grant maker, Clean Air Fund alone represented 8% of this funding.
According to the report, philanthropic foundations which focus on climate, energy, and the environment provided the largest portion of funding for outdoor air quality, accounting for 73% of funding in 2023.
North America received the largest share of philanthropic funding for outdoor air quality (34%), while Africa and Latin America received less than 1% and 2% of total funding, respectively.
Additionally, organisations based in the Global North and Europe tend to allocate a substantial share of their resources within their own regions.
For example, funding from the U.S. to North America accounted for 57% of total funding ($164 million) for that region.
The report also calls for the circle of philanthropic funders to be expanded, and argues more foundations should integrate air quality within their existing climate and health portfolios.
The Clean Air Fund’s chief executive officer Jane Burston said there has been a “marked slowdown” in the philanthropic funding going towards outdoor air quality, in an interview.
Burston said this is partly due to philanthropic funding being used to “plug the gaps” in other areas, after many governments have cut their foreign aid budgets.
She added donors also tend to donate to the areas close to home, so North American and European donors allocate the majority of their funding to their own regions.
Burston said in the years covered by this new report (2019 to 2023), North America received just over a third of all the philanthropic funding, while some of the areas which are the most polluted, or rapidly becoming the most polluted are getting the least funding.
She added Africa got less than 1% of the total philanthropic funding for outdoor air quality between 2019 and 2023, and Latin America received less than 2%.
During the same time period, Burston said United Kingdom-based organisations directed 37% of their total outdoor air funding to Europe.
“The amount of funding given to outdoor air quality is so small. It’s less than 0.1% of overall philanthropic giving,” she told me.
“And combined with the aid cuts that we are seeing, it really means the issue is not getting anywhere near the scale of funding to match the scale of this global challenge.
“Tackling air pollution is one of the highest return investments we can make. It can give you massive health benefits, climate benefits and economic benefits,” said Burston.
“It’s a way of tackling a lot of different agendas all at once, and our message to philanthropists is this is a triple win.”
Sonia Medina, chief ecosystem development officer at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, who authored the report’s foreword, said the findings show that clean air is one of the most compelling investments available, in an email.
Medina added evidence consistently shows that investments in improving air quality yield substantial returns for societies and economies.
“For those already engaged, the opportunity now is to go further – to catalyse additional public and private finance, invest in high-impact actions and sectors, and target regions most in need,” she said.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s vice president, power, Cassady Walters said the fastest path to cleaner air in sub-Saharan Africa runs through energy access, in an email.
“A single investment here delivers multiple returns: cleaner air, dramatically improved health outcomes, reduced climate emissions, and stronger, more resilient economies. That’s where philanthropic capital can have truly outsized impact,” she said.
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