The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities.
In the past several years, the World Bank has drawn greater attention to the importance of tackling air pollution as a means to reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, and improving health and quality of life. The Bank recognizes that in order to effectively address the problem of air pollution, a comprehensive and cross-sectoral approach—driven by local and regional priorities—is needed.
The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities, launched by the World Bank, ADB and other organizations, is a large-scale, regional program for sharing information, improving policy, and piloting projects in the region. Under the umbrella initiative, pollution management activities are now largely being "mainstreamed" across the World Bank. An air quality thematic group was created to advise on priority issues identified at the Bank and is largely influenced by the program’s team members and staff at the World Bank Secretariat.
The Environment Department, Economic Research Group, and the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Division at the World Bank Institute are all actively involved in the Clean Air Initiative. The Environment Department continues to carry out various transport projects and multi-city action programs to reduce air pollution. Extensive research is being carried out by the Economic Research Group and the World Bank Institute provides learning and training activities to internal and external clients. In addition, the Urban, the Water and Sanitation, and the Infrastructure sectors all have a number of pollution management activities related to their sectors.
Furthermore, each of the Bank's operational regions is managing related activities. IFC also provides guidance on the management of pollution from industrial projects.
[x ] Air quality monitoring
[x ] Air quality management
[x ] Stationary sources of air pollution
[x ] Mobile sources of air pollution
[x ] Indoor air pollution
[x ] Climate change and greenhouse gas abatement
[x ] Others: Policies and instruments
Activities are implemented in all member countries where air pollution is a significant problem.
- China-Beijing Environment Project II
- Strengthening the Institutional and Policy Framework for Urban Air Quality Management
- Vietnam System Energy Equitization-Renewal/ SEIER (Renewable Energy component)
- Metro Manila Urban Transport Integration Project (MMURTRIP)
- Yantai Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle
- China-Shandong Environment Project
- Renewable Energy Scale-up Program
- Wuhan Urban Transport Project
- Energy Conservation Project, Phase II
- Mongolia Stove Improvement Project
Jitendra Shah
Senior Environmental Engineer
Tel: 1 (202) 458 1598
Fax: 1 (202) 522 1666
Email: jshah@worldbank.org
Website: http://www.worldbank.org
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