Mongolia’s air pollution crisis has reached its peak, with an estimated 7,000-plus Mongolians dying each year from polluted air. The public is not sitting idle. Since January, activists and families of victims of air pollution have called for action, demanding a public hearing with the government. The process of having that dialogue, though, illustrated underlining issues in media coverage, low attendance, and the coal producers’ conflict of interest.
On February 3 and 4, the Standing Committee on Environment, Food and Agriculture of the State Great Hural of Mongolia held a National General Oversight Hearing on the “implementation of policies and decisions on smog, and solutions within the framework of air pollution reduction.” The February hearings, co-initiated by civil society organizations led by Breathe Mongolia, incited national attention and a peaceful demonstration demanding urgent action on hazardous air pollution levels. The petition collected over 71,000 signatures within 10 days, reaching the required amount for it to be considered by the State Great Hural.
According to the Mongolian parliament, the public hearing was attended by 15 out of 126 parliamentarians, representatives from 29 government organizations, 60 civil society organizations, and seven expert analysts.
The hearing was organized throughout the month of January with Clean Air Coalition and air quality professionals in Mongolia. Before opening it to the public, organizers specified that there were four sessions of pre-hearing discussions. The process, however, highlighted several major realities in Mongolia’s efforts to combat air pollution.
According to participants who were part of the organizing body, the air pollution pre-hearing discussions were not widely shared, with limited media coverage. Not only that, but participation and encouragement from government representatives was extremely low.
The participation of the legislative branch is crucial in the process of improving air pollution and solving the protracted public health issues. However, the number of members of parliament present during the hearing barely reached a quorum. Key decision-makers, including the ministers of energy and health, did not attend and the mayor of Ulaanbaatar attended only one out of four pre-hearing discussions, drawing criticism.
This was not an aberration. Air pollution public hearing processes in Mongolia are notoriously ineffective. The hearings beg the question of who is ultimately responsible for the issue: the government or the coal producers. Air pollution has thus become a deep socioeconomic topic, to which neither academic panels nor public hearings can truly offer a solution. The public’s sentiment going into the hearing was also divided, with many questioning the efficacy of the process.
In the end, the public hearing was an exercise in compiling and confirming evidence and statistics rather than offering an analysis of policy failures or a clear, decisive action to eliminate pollution, contrary to what the public demanded.
A 2021 audit report found that, between 2017-2020, 67.8 percent of planned activities under the National Program for Reducing Air and Environmental Pollution had not been implemented. Many see this as the government’s double-speak on combating air pollution – and the lack of action is catching up to Mongolia, over 7,000 dying each year.
For years, discussion of air pollution was sidestepped, with responsibility shuffled around to the point where it was almost avoided. Despite the international community’s outcry, Mongolia’s air pollution levels continue to grow. The subject begged for answers and solutions, yet was practically a taboo. The failed communication and lack of policy coordination between the Ministries of Environment, Energy, and Health, and the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar needs to be addressed. Mongolia’s air pollution crisis has always been a multilayered issue, concerning coal producers, coal users, government policies, and the public. Yet to this day, there is no evidence of a coordinated effort to truly tackle air pollution through government policies.
A striking case in point is the alarming rise carbon monoxide poisoning following a ban on household use of raw coal. Coal briquettes were offered as an alternative, with the goal of reducing air pollution from coal burning in the capital. But the consequences have been dire. In Ulaanbaatar, cute carbon monoxide poisoning cases surged as much as 50-fold following the 2019 ban on household use of raw coal. According to the head of the public hearing organizing working group, 779 lives had been lost to carbon monoxide poisoning between 2017 and 2024. As of February 19, 2025, that figure has reportedly risen to 811 deaths.
During the public hearing process, government bodies and officials from relevant stakeholders – such as those representing Tavan Tolgoi Tulsh LLC, which produces the government-subsidized coal briquettes suspected of contributing to the carbon monoxide poisonings – seemed more focused on defending their policies and positions than finding solutions. To businesses that profit from coal briquettes, addressing public health impacts seemed like a secondary concern. Many answers were generalized; questions were deflected or left unanswered with no clear follow-up mechanism.
It is fair to say that, since the raw coal ban in 2019, there hasn’t been any large-scale action to address air pollution in Mongolia. The National Committee on Air and Environmental Pollution Reduction was dismantled in December 2023, ripping apart what was supposed to be the main institutional framework to coordinate air quality policies and conduct monitoring and evaluation.
From the early days of this year’s petition demanding action on air pollution until the end of the public hearings, the elephant in the room was the hyper-politicization of the topic. Pledges on various measures to improve air quality – from reducing dependence on coal for domestic heating to expanding energy and transportation infrastructure – have been used for political advantage for decades with little follow-through. The empty promises and their repeated narrative haunt discussions of people’s lives and well-being.
The government has spent nearly $500 million to address air pollution since 2008. Of that, almost one-fifth was found to have been misallocated, misused, or riddled with spending discrepancies.
At the public hearing, there was a sense of understanding that air pollution is now recognized as a national issue, moving away from the narrow definition of the problem as restricted to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Some noticeable narrative shifts occurred during the hearing. Some decision-makers concluded that the 2019 decision to monopolize coal briquette production under the state-owned Tavan Tolgoi Tulsh was flawed and potentially led to fuel quality issues. Several parliamentary members acknowledged the insulation of gers and houses in informal settlement areas as an important step to reduce fuel consumption.
The hearing showed widespread agreement on the need to increase private-sector involvement to diversify pathways toward cleaner, safer energy sources. There were also positive signs of moving away from the insidious narrative of blaming ger districts residents for being polluters and instead seeing the systemic failures that are highlighted by the socioeconomic issues of those in poverty.
The Mongolian public demands political will to solve air pollution, reverse public dependency on coal-based heating systems, and show interest and care in information-sharing on air pollution. Air pollution is indeed a sensitive topic, yet the deaths of 811 people has not sparked a moment of reflection or accountability. The Mongolian public asks: who is responsible for these deaths, and what action is the current government is doing to prevent further deaths?