The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved financing for two major programs in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana aimed at improving air quality for approximately 270 million people, with additional benefits expected for neighboring states. Beyond environmental improvements, the programs are designed to enhance the states’ attractiveness as business destinations and stimulate job creation, particularly in green sectors.
Paul Procee, Acting Country Director for World Bank India, emphasized that air pollution poses severe health risks, reduces productivity, and diminishes quality of life across South Asia. The programs in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh represent India’s first airshed-based, multi-sectoral initiatives to address air pollution, demonstrating how clean air interventions can also boost productivity and generate employment opportunities, especially for youth and women.
The Uttar Pradesh Clean Air Management Program (UPCAMP), with a $299.66 million investment, builds on the state’s Clean Air Plan by targeting key sectors such as transport, agriculture, and industry. The program will provide clean cooking access to 3.9 million households, introduce 15,000 electric three-wheelers and 500 electric buses in cities including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur, and support incentives to replace 13,500 polluting heavy-duty vehicles with lower-emission alternatives. UPCAMP also aims to reduce transboundary emissions by collaborating with neighboring states and promoting sustainable agricultural practices, MSME adoption of cleaner technologies, and urban e-mobility initiatives.
The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development Operation, funded at $300 million, supports the state’s Action Plan to reduce pollution through multisectoral interventions. The project will enhance air quality monitoring and emission tracking, invest in electric transport options in Gurugram, Sonipat, and Faridabad, and improve connectivity to expand job access, particularly for women. Additionally, it will assist MSMEs in adopting cleaner technologies, promote agricultural waste management, and enable productive reuse of paddy stubble. Haryana has established ARJUN, a special purpose vehicle, to coordinate and monitor implementation, aiming to mobilize over $127 million in private capital.
Both programs form part of the World Bank’s Regional Air Quality Management Program in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills, a global air pollution hotspot. They will also receive grant support from the World Bank’s Resilient Asia Program, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, as well as the multi-donor Energy Sector Management Assessment Program.
The Uttar Pradesh program has a final maturity of 10 years, including a two-year grace period, while the Haryana program has a final maturity of 23.5 years, including a six-year grace period, reflecting long-term commitments to air quality improvement and sustainable development in both states.
