Air Quality Toolkit for Development Finance Institutions

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have a core role to play in supporting air quality action in low- and middle-income countries. Only 1% of international development assistance is allocated to projects with a specific aim to improve air quality. Yet integrating clean air into their projects is a smart way for DFIs to maximise their resources for people, planet and economy.

This toolkit has been developed to support DFIs, primarily multilateral development banks (MDBs) and bilateral donors to better understand air pollution and how their development projects can lead to air quality improvement. The guidance is designed for project officers and managers working across different sectoral development projects with little or no knowledge of air quality. It provides background information on air pollution and how working on air quality issues can help drive development, improve health, deliver economic benefits, and achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation. It also demonstrates some simple steps to support the inclusion of air quality in projects. The toolkit was developed by Ricardo Group and Clean Air Asia, with financial support from Clean Air Fund. It has been endorsed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Expertise France.