The Clean Air Initiative in Latin American Cities (CAI-LAC) was launched in 1998 as a joint partnership of a number of Latin American cities, the World Bank, and several interested organizations. The mission of CAI-LAC is to improve air quality in Latin American cities, to protect the health of their inhabitants and to mitigate global pollution through partnerships involving government agencies, private sector companies and industry associations, NGOs, academic institutions, foundations, international development agencies and individuals.

Following more than 6 years of the World Bank acting as CAI-LAC’s Technical Secretariat, the Initiative’s members agreed to establish a permanent institution to continue and advance the mission of CAI-LAC and to establish a sound and sustainable financial foundation. This new institution has been designated the CAI Center, a not-for-profit organization that is being established initially in Washington, DC.

The conference will serve on the one hand to disseminate technical knowledge, experience, and possible solutions on clean air-related issues and, on the other hand, to establish the new CAI-LAC center as a center of excelence in Latin America for clean air related issues, including sustainable transport and air quality.