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Coefficient Giving – Air Quality Fund

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Credibility Rating

4/5
High(4)

High quality. Established institution or organization with editorial oversight and accountability.

Rating inherited from publication venue: Coefficient Giving

This is a philanthropic fund page focused on air quality improvement in South Asia, not directly related to AI safety. It is tangential to AI safety topics at best.

Metadata

Importance: 5/100homepage

Summary

The Coefficient Giving Air Quality Fund supports work to improve air quality for over a billion people in highly polluted regions, primarily South Asia. It has made 40+ grants totaling $20M+, focusing on research, technical assistance to governments, addressing pollution sources, and growing the policy ecosystem. Air pollution kills roughly 2 million people annually in South Asia alone.

Key Points

  • Fund has made 40+ grants totaling over $20 million to address air quality, primarily in South Asia.
  • Air pollution kills ~2 million people per year in South Asia and accounts for 3% of global DALYs.
  • Grantmaking focuses on research/data collection, technical assistance to governments, and addressing specific pollution sources.
  • Partners include Good Ventures and private funders; led by Senior Program Officer Santosh Harish.
  • Featured work includes reducing emissions from brick kilns in Bangladesh and crop residue burning in Punjab.

Cached Content Preview

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Air Quality

 
 We support work to improve air quality for over a billion people living in areas with high levels of pollution. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40+ 
 grants made 
 

 
 $20+ 
 million given 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Contents

 
 About the Fund 

 Research & Updates 

 Featured Grants 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 About the Fund

 
 
 

 Team

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Santosh Harish 
 Senior Program Officer

 
 

 
 
 
 

 Partners

 
 
 
 
 Good Ventures 

 Private funders (x2) 

 
 Interested in learning more or joining the fund? Reach out to  partnerwithus@coefficientgiving.org .

 

 
 
 
 

 
 Air pollution is among the most important issues in global health. But in many of the regions where pollution is worst, the issue receives little attention from governments or donors. 

 Currently, most of our funding supports work in South Asia, which has some of the world’s worst air quality. Air pollution kills roughly 2 million people in the region each year (and accounts for 3% of all global DALYs ). Adults in areas with higher levels of air pollution suffer from higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, while infants are more likely to be born underweight or preterm. 

 So far, our grantmaking has focused on a few areas: 

 
 Supporting research and data collection to improve our understanding of the problem (e.g. by monitoring air quality in rural areas) 

 Providing technical assistance , like project management support and scientific input, to help governments implement policies to improve air quality.  

 Addressing specific sources of pollution, like brick kilns in Bangladesh or crop residue burning in Punjab, either by regulating them or by changing incentives 

 Growing the ecosystem of research, practitioner, and policy groups engaged in air quality work 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Research & Updates

 
 
 Prev 
 
 
 Next 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 Cause Investigation

 
 
 
 
 South Asian Air Quality
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 Poor air quality contributes significantly to negative health outcomes for the more than 1.8 billion people in South Asia, and reducing the levels of particulate matter present in the air could save millions of lives.

 
 

 
 Read more
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 Podcast

 
 
 
 
 How Air Pollution Is Responsible for ~12% of Global Deaths — and How To Get That Number Down
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 80,000 Hours host Rob Wiblin interviews Santosh Harish — leader of Coefficient Giving’s Air Quality Fund — about the scale of the harm caused by air pollution.

 
 

 
 Listen to the podcast
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 News

 
 
 
 
 NPR: A Study Finds Stacking Bricks Differently Could Help This Country Fight Air Pollution
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 Bangladesh’s air consistently ranks among the most polluted on Earth. Brick kilns contribute anywhere from 10 to 40% of that pollution. But something as simple as stacking the bricks a different way could put a significant dent in the problem.

 
 

 
 Read more
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 News

 
 
 
 
 New York Times: One

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