AKIPRESS.COM - Ulaanbaatar is one the world’s most polluted cities – its “harmful dust” is 10 times higher than that permitted by the Mongolian Air Quality Standards and 6-7 times higher than the most lenient World Health Organization targets, reports news.mn.

When breathing, lungs act like air filters, catching and storing the harmful dust which scientists call “Particulate Matter” (PM). PM refers to tiny particles smaller than 2.5 microns or “PM2.5”; “PM10” can cause severe respiratory illnesses.

Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution comes from many sources – dust from the desert, unpaved roads and open areas lacking vegetation, ash and emissions from coal stoves, power plants, boilers, and vehicles… But coal burning by the households in ger districts for cooking and heating contributes to the severity of air pollution in wintertime – summer air pollution is much lower than in winter.

Annually, Ulaanbaatar burns 5.9 million tonnes coal and 10 percent of this is in the ger districts. However, 80 percent of all emissions in the city comes from domestic stoves. Power stations burn 85 percent of overall coal use and produce 10 percent of emissions. Another 10 percent of air pollution came from cars. Nearly 60 percent of all cars on the road in Ulaanbaatar are aged over ten years.

The Mongolian Government has approved MNT5 billion for the fight against air pollution in 2017, of which a total of MNT3.5 billion will be for the zero electricity night time tariff.