Half-a-million people a year die prematurely in Asia because of air pollution, while climate change threatens the well-being of all people. Transport, industry and biomass burning produce air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG). Particulate matter and ozone also contribute to climate change. It is vital to address air pollution and climate change together through integrated policies and projects.
The mission of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) is to promote better air quality and livable cities by translating knowledge to policies and actions that reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from transport, energy and other sectors. It was established in 2001 by ADB, the World Bank and USAID as part of a global initiative that also includes Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
CAI-Asia is a registered UN Type II Partnership with almost 200 organizational members, eight Country Networks, and the CAI-Asia Center as its secretariat. Individuals can join CAI-Asia by registering online.
CAI-Asia is guided by a Partnership Council of five members representing CAI-Asia’s organizational members: cities, government, NGOs/academia, private sector, and development agencies. The CAI-Asia Center is a registered NGO with its own members including the Board of Trustees, the 5 Partnership Council members and private sector members.
Country Networks are organized as registered associations, as NGOs or as informal networks. Country Networks mobilize action at the national and local level. Each Country Network has a coordinator, an e-newsletter, and 1-2 year work plans. Each year, coordinators meet for a Country Network Summit to share achievements, scope future work, and foster stronger collaborations.
CAI-Asia’s projects and activities aim to integrate air quality management, climate change mitigation and sustainable transport into policies and programs of developing countries. Its flagship event, the Better Air Quality (BAQ) conference, brings together 1,000 air quality stakeholders.
Our Strategy
The CAI-Asia Strategy 2009-2012 summarizes how the CAI-Asia Partnership, Center and Country Networks will champion efforts to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The Business Plan 2009-2010 describes CAI-Asia Center’s organizational goals and projects and other activities to achieve these. Country Networks have their own annual work plans. We report on our progress and activities in our Annual Reports.
CAI-Asia aims to place efforts to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in a broader context. On the one hand, cities should "scale out" by focusing on
On the other hand, we need to "scale up" to reach about 2,500 Asian cities with over 100,000 people. Many cities do not have international or national programs to improve AQM and adopting a business-as-usual approach is not sustainable. Therefore, we must extend successful programs across Asian cities.
Key CAI-Asia documents can be downloaded here.