Air pollution remains one of the most pressing environmental and public health challenges across Asia and the Pacific. Rapid urbanization, industrial growth, and increasing energy demand have led to worsening air quality, threatening human health, ecosystems, and economic productivity. Many cities in the region continue to exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines, underscoring the need for integrated, cross-sectoral solutions.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) are preparing a project proposal to accelerate SME investments in the blue economy across Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. This webinar aims to: 

While local communities are on the frontlines of climate impacts, they typically lack a voice in the decisions that affect them. The International Institute for Environment and Development estimates that less than 10% of international climate finance gets earmarked for local-level action. There are growing calls by countries, civil society, and many other stakeholders to improve both the quantity and quality of climate finance.

This session explored how creating “community windows” within national climate funds was a key strategy for delivering locally owned investments. Interestingly, ADB developing member countries were keen on establishing specific finance vehicles to invest in their resilience and development goals, to enable increased finance mobilization, greater coordination, and support programmatic approaches.