Pollution and environmental degradation often worsen as countries develop and industrialize. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis suggests that, initially, economic growth increases pollution up to a certain income threshold, and then it begins to decrease pollution. Pollution reduction is not inevitable, however.

Published each year by the Clean Air Fund, this report provides the only global snapshot of projects funded by donor governments and philanthropic organizations to tackle air pollution. Its purpose is to identify gaps in funding and opportunities for strategic investment and collaboration which will deliver clean air for all.

Air pollution is the largest environmental risk factor for human health, causing ill health and millions of premature deaths each year worldwide. However, the negative impacts of air pollution are unequal—being far greater on low and middle-income countries and particularly skewed towards vulnerable populations.

The WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin reports annually on the state of air quality and its connections to climate change, reflecting on the geographical distribution of and changes in the levels of traditional pollutants.

India is home to 18 of the 20 cities with the most severe increase in fine particle pollutants or PM2.5 from 2010 to 2019, according to this comprehensive and detailed analysis of air pollution and global health effects for over 7,000 cities, published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI).

The pandemic-induced lockdown provided a temporary respite to the citizens by reducing vehicular traffic, thereby significantly improving air quality, even dropping Air Quality Index (AQI) to well within National Ambient Air Quality limits.