The Effects of COVID-19 on Clean Air and a Healthy Climate in Asia's Cities

Though the worst of COVID-19 appears to be over, it also raises important questions about COVID-19's immediate and then longer-term impacts on urban air quality. To understand both sets of impacts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Asia Pacific Office, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka, and the National Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia developed a study on how COVID-19 affected air quality. Part of the study examined effects across several cities in Asia and the Pacific; a more in-depth set of reviews explored connections in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Kawasaki, Japan.