17/08/2026
🏠 What if warmer homes could also mean cleaner air?
In Mongolia, nearly 200,000 households (almost half of Ulaanbaatar) live in ger areas, where winter heating is one of the city's biggest sources of air pollution. For years, families faced a hard trade-off: stay warm, or breathe clean air.
The 🇪🇺 EU SWITCH-Asia Programme Switch Off Air Pollution in Mongolian cities project set out to change that 👉 https://switch-asia.eu/news/switch-off-air-pollution-in-mongolias-cities-warmer-homes-cleaner-air-lower-energy-use/
🎯 Over four years (2022–2026), the project:
• Trained 250+ insulation brigades, building a skilled workforce where almost none existed
• Insulated 4,850 detached houses, cutting fuel use and heating bills
• Rolled out 14 low-cost, DIY insulation fixes that reached 4,481 households
• Piloted a Nearly Zero Energy demonstration house combining insulation with solar, heat pumps and battery storage
• Unlocked green financing through 5 banks and 3 non-bank institutions, including loans at 6% interest
• Helped prevent ~20,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions
EU Delegation to Mongolia EU International Partnerships Geres Mongolia - Жэрэс ОУТББ-ын Монгол дахь Төлөөлөгчийн Газар Geres - Acting for climate solidarity Mongolia Green Finance Corporation Public Монголын Барилгын Үндэсний Ассоциаци ТББ BEEC Mongolian Women's Fund/ Монголын Эмэгтэйчүүдийн Сан Fondation pour le Logement des Défavorisés AFD - Agence Française de Développement