Breathe Mongolia — Citizen-Generated Air-Quality Data and Household Action in Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar's winter coal-heating smog is among the worst in the world. Mongolia is estimated to suffer
132 premature deaths per 100,000 people annually from air pollution, well above the global average of 92
per 100,000 (Clean Air Fund case study) — and the founders say official monitoring data was, at the time,
largely inaccessible or non-existent.

Breathe Mongolia started in 2016 as an informal collaboration of scientists, environmental professionals,
journalists and concerned citizens — including co-founders Azjargal Tsogtsaikhan, Uyanga Ganbaatar,
Enkhuun Byambadorj and Oyungerel Munkhbat, several of whom acted after family members fell ill. It was
formally registered as a non-profit in 2019, and partners with OpenAQ and the Clean Air Fund on an open,
low-cost sensor "Community Ambassadors" programme.

At the household level, the organisation worked directly with 28 families to monitor indoor and outdoor
air quality and reduce fossil-fuel dependence, and arranged neurodevelopmental assessments for 67
children with high pollution exposure.

By 2024 the programme had expanded into carbon-monoxide-poisoning prevention, distributing safety
toolkits that reached over 1,000 households, alongside a Summer Climate & Clean Air Youth Fellowship that
has trained more than 580 young people across 25 schools, and an Environmental Journalism Fellowship for
21 journalists.

Honestly noted: public reporting from Breathe Mongolia and the Clean Air Fund does not disclose a total
count of sensors deployed or a city-wide air-quality improvement figure. Its documented outcomes are
concentrated at the household, school and journalist-training level rather than a measured reduction in
Ulaanbaatar's overall pollution levels.

Read the full analysis: https://www.cleanairfund.org/case-study/breathe-mongolia/