Where Is the Clean Air Money Going?

The world has committed billions of dollars to improving air quality over the past five years. Yet some countries facing the worst pollution still receive remarkably little funding. The latest State of Global Air Quality Funding 2026 report by the Clean Air Fund and Climate Policy Initiative raises an important question: Is clean-air finance reaching the places where it is needed most?

Billions in funding, but how much is actually for clean air?

Regional Distribution of Global Air Quality Funding, 2020–2024. (Source: Clean Air Fund & Climate Policy Initiative, State of Global Air Quality Funding 2026.)

According to the report, global air quality funding declined by 6% in 2024 to $28.7 billion, marking its first annual decline in five years. Between 2020 and 2024, international development funders committed $124.6 billion to projects associated with improved air quality.

Such investments are valuable, but there is a difference between projects that may improve air quality and those specifically designed to reduce pollution exposure. In fact, funding explicitly targeting outdoor air quality accounted for less than 1% of international development finance over 2020–2024.

This raises questions about how clean-air priorities are defined, funded, and measured.

Africa's growing funding gap

For Africa, the picture is particularly concerning. Sub-Saharan Africa was the only region to record consistent annual growth in total air quality funding between 2020 and 2024, receiving approximately $12.2 billion over the period.

Yet funding specifically dedicated to outdoor air quality remained extremely limited, amounting to just $0.60 per person across the five years, compared with $6.70 per person in Southeast Asia.

The disparity becomes even more striking when pollution exposure is considered. In 2024, five of the world's most polluted countries received less than $2 per person in total air quality funding. Among them were Cameroon, receiving approximately $0.70 per person, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, receiving $1.40.

These figures point to a fundamental problem: clean-air finance does not necessarily follow pollution burden. Instead, funding frequently flows towards countries with stronger financial institutions and the capacity to develop large, investment-ready projects.

So, where does the money go?

The report reveals that transport attracted 62% of total air quality funding between 2020 and 2024, equivalent to $77 billion. Railways and public transport alone accounted for $53 billion.

Meanwhile, loans represented 89% of all funding, compared with just 7.7% delivered through grants.

Large infrastructure investments can significantly improve air quality, but not every solution requires a billion-dollar project. Cleaner household energy, waste management, industrial emissions control, community monitoring and stronger environmental regulation also require investment.

For African countries facing debt pressures and limited institutional capacity, a financing model dominated by large loans can make these essential interventions difficult to fund.

The challenge is therefore not simply to increase funding but to develop financing mechanisms that reflect the different needs and capacities of countries.

A missed opportunity for climate and public health

One particularly striking finding concerns black carbon, a component of fine particulate pollution associated with harmful health effects and near-term climate warming.

Although black-carbon-related funding reached approximately $7.5 billion in 2024, 99.9% treated its reduction as a secondary benefit.

This represents a missed opportunity for African countries, where household fuel combustion, transport emissions, agricultural burning and open waste burning are important sources of pollution.

Targeted investment in these areas could simultaneously improve public health, reduce air pollution and contribute to climate mitigation.

Why environmental data must be part of the investment

Beyond the financing gap, the report highlights the importance of making air quality an explicit and measurable objective of development projects.

How can governments identify pollution hotspots, determine priority interventions, or demonstrate improvements without reliable local measurements?

At Miri Africa, our work focuses on addressing this information gap through locally engineered environmental monitoring technologies and data platforms. Across Nigeria and other African countries, we are helping governments, industries, and communities generate the environmental intelligence needed to understand pollution patterns and support evidence-based decisions.

Reliable monitoring should not be an afterthought in clean-air investment. It is essential for establishing pollution baselines, evaluating interventions, and demonstrating whether funding translates into measurable improvements.

Beyond more money: financing what matters

The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2026 report offers a timely reminder that the volume of investment alone does not determine its impact.

For Africa, progress will require more accessible financing, greater support for local technical capacity, investment in environmental monitoring and stronger attention to interventions that address pollution where exposure is highest.

The question is no longer simply how much money is being committed to clean air, but where that money goes, what it achieves and who benefits.

Ultimately, the success of clean-air finance should be measured not only in billions committed but also in cleaner air and healthier communities.

Source: Clean Air Fund and Climate Policy Initiative (2026). The State of Global Air Quality Funding 2026.