On Air Clean Air Asia

In this month's special podcast episode, we're taking an in-depth look at how financing air quality management works. This podcast episode was recorded during the "Innovative finance for climate and air quality actions: Building capacity of cities on finance planning towards a more sustainable and healthy future" webinar held last September 24, 2021.

Our panelists include: Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto of Bogor City, Indonesia, Mayor Ma. Josefina "Joy" Belmonte of Quezon City, Philippines, Christopher Godlove of THINKCities Consulting, Pamela Cabacungan of ICLEI Southeast Asia, and Sunghoon Kris Moon of the Asian Development Bank.

Global car sales dropped as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded worldwide. Yet, the switch to electric vehicles remains on track with a slight increase in global electric car sales despite the pandemic. Battery powered electric vehicles are also gaining popularity across Asia. In fact, China, Japan and South Korea are leading the pack in electric mobility worldwide. The big question is, what are the drivers to Asia's adoption of electric vehicles? This is what we're going to talk about in today's episode of Clean Air Asia's podcast "On Air."

Background music: Just Wondering by Maarten Schellekens

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted global energy consumption – the demand for coal declined with economic activity and electricity demand falling worldwide. However, this decline is likely short-lived, with trends set to reverse when economies recover. Positively, though, the use of renewable energy is on the rise globally. In this episode of Clean Air Asia's podcast "On Air," we're speaking to five experts on the pathways to sustainable energy transition in Asia.

From brick kilns in Bangladesh to raw coal burning for cooking and heating in Mongolia, Asian cities are exposed to different sources and levels of  hazardous air pollutants that affect the environment and the health and  economic well-being of people. Where does air pollution come from?  What are the impacts of poor air quality? And how are cities and  countries dealing with the challenges? In this first episode of Clean Air Asia's podcast, "On Air," we're talking to five air quality experts in Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand about air quality in their cities.