Deputy Governor of the Capital City in charge of air and environmental pollution D.Munkhjargal emphasized that “Ulaanbaatar will become a zero-waste city in 2050. To accomplish this goal, it is necessary to create a multi-centered city system and to produce energy from waste,”   in her remarks addressed at the opening of an international virtual scientific conference entitled “Clean Air City” held on June 17.  

She continued “The Capital City has set a goal to reduce air pollution by 80 percent at stages by 2025 in the National Program on Reduction of Air and Environmental Pollution, and “Master Plan on Reduction of Air pollution in the Capital City. We could eliminate raw coal consumption at stages thanks to implementation of Government Resolution No.62. As a result of works carried out in directions of providing households with refined coal, overseeing its implementation process, not exceeding selling price from raw coal price and making demand and supply of the refined coal balanced, some indicators of air pollution have been declined by up to 50 percent. The second plant, which will provide households living in ger districts in the eastern region of the capital city, is now under construction. We also have introduced electric and gas heating in consumption and have reduced raw coal consumption tangibly.”

In 2018-2019, Environmental Health Department of the School of Public Health of the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences conducted an air quality study comparing consumption of raw coal and refined coal. The study revealed that amount of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) indoors has decreased by 40 percent compared to the previous year.

 Deputy Director of McKelvey School of Engineering of the University of Washington in St. Louis, USA, Prof. Jay Turner said some air pollution indicators went down by 30-50 percent thanks to introduction of refined coal in consumption. Now it is necessary to reduce industrial and vehicle smog emission. Moreover, it is crucial to reduce indoor air pollution. Amount of indoor air particulate matter is 15-45 percent lower than outdoor's. Therefore, ventilation system should be improved.

Scholars and researchers of the National University of Mongolia, Mongolian University of Science and Technology, National Public Health Center, Institute of Geography and Geoecology and scholars from countries such as the United States, China and Japan have taken part in the virtual conference, which was organized by the Governor’s Office of the Capital City, Air Pollution Reduction Department of the Capital City in partnership with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.