By reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate mitigation delivers a wide range of environmental benefits, with more than 33 co-benefits in 2025, such as improved air quality and reduced pollution to stronger ecosystems and more efficient use of resources. These are tangible improvements that enhance quality of life while supporting long-term climate goals.
Reducing pollution and improving air quality
In the transport sector, GHG emissions and urban air pollution are closely linked. Mitigation Action Facility projects are transforming cities by reducing emissions and improving air quality.
In Cabo Verde and Kenya, projects supporting electric mobility, cutting emissions while directly improving urban air quality. Cleaner transport systems reduce harmful pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, contributing to healthier urban environments.
Similarly, the Nepal – Electric Transport project promotes low-emission public transport and supports a broader transition to e-mobility. By strengthening coordination between government, financial institutions, and technology providers, it helps develop business models, financing tools, and digital solutions aligned with NDC targets.
In Indonesia, efforts to improve urban transport systems have reduced congestion and air pollution. Fewer idling vehicles mean lower fuel consumption and a noticeable decline in air pollutants.
Increasing resource efficiency
Climate action can optimise the use of key resources such as energy and water. In Kenya, the Renewable and Efficient Water Systems project demonstrates how mitigation can drive efficiency at a systems level. By integrating solar PV and energy-efficient technologies into water utilities, the project reduces energy use per unit of water delivered while improving service reliability.
Reducing waste and promoting circularity
Mitigation projects can generate important co-benefits by reducing waste and promoting circular use of resources. Municipal solid waste is a growing source of GHG emissions and environmental degradation, contributing to air, soil, and water pollution.
In India, a waste management project supports source segregation, scales up recycling systems, and strengthens material recovery infrastructure across cities. This circular approach not only reduces emissions but also improves resource efficiency and contributes to cleaner, more sustainable urban systems.
Protecting and restoring ecosystems
Climate mitigation can also play a key role in protecting and restoring ecosystems. In Namibia, a biomass project addresses bush encroachment by harvesting invasive species for energy production. This helps restore degraded savannah landscapes, improve biodiversity, and relieve water resources, while also providing a renewable energy source.
These examples highlight an important reality: climate mitigation is not only about reducing emissions, it is also about creating healthier environments. By integrating environmental co-benefits into project design and implementation, mitigation actions can deliver benefits for people, economies, and the planet.
Climate mitigation that delivers for people, economies and the planet
Across its portfolio, the Mitigation Action Facility supports climate mitigation projects that go beyond emissions reductions, delivering tangible environmental, economic, social, and political and institutional co-benefits. These impacts are captured under Output Indicator 5.1, which tracks how projects contribute to broader sustainable development outcomes.
– In 2025, projects reported 19 additional co-benefits, bringing the cumulative total to 152, a 15% increase compared to 2024.
– The majority of projects (17 out of 25) met or exceeded their co-benefit targets, with several significantly overachieving.
– Lower performance is mainly observed in early-stage projects, where co-benefits are expected to materialise in later implementation phases.
Together, these results highlight how climate mitigation, across all four dimensions, can deliver meaningful benefits for people, economies, and the environment.
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