Investment roadmaps and partnership development for black carbon mitigation

What is the Black Carbon Investment Roadmaps Project?

Despite its significant climate and health impacts, black carbon, also known as soot and a component of PM 2.5, remains underfunded and underprioritized in global air quality and climate finance. 

According to the State of Global Air Funding 2025, funding for black carbon mitigation fluctuated from $975 million in 2019 to $824 million in 2023, a 15% decline. Focusing on black carbon mitigation aligned with country priorities can boost funding and attract finance for overlooked projects tackling harmful burning and reliance on polluting fuels like kerosene and diesel. Many countries prioritize black carbon through targets in NDCs or National Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Action Plans. However, the transition from planning to implementation is hindered by a lack of dedicated financial mechanisms and investment-ready project pipelines that show the benefits of black carbon mitigation.

To address these challenges, it is important to create an environment for financing high-emitting black carbon sectors, strengthen evidence, and mobilise targeted financial commitments to integrate black carbon into climate and development finance. 

This project aims to close the financing gap for black carbon mitigation by developing sectoral and regional investment roadmaps to guide funders, governments, and multilateral institutions toward impactful interventions. 

Key project activities and deliverables

This project tackles the financing shortfall for black carbon reduction. By combining research, stakeholder engagement, and investment planning, the project identifies cost-effective, workable pathways that can attract both public and private capital.

To deliver on these goals, SEI will work with the Clean Air Fund, Governments, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), and other collaborators to develop these roadmaps.

The project will:

• Identify mitigation measures for study by conducting targeted research and expert interviews to scope potential regions, sectors, and measures for investment roadmaps.
• Conduct research to develop investment roadmaps for sectoral and regional black carbon reduction, in collaboration with SEI and national partners.
• Engage with stakeholders such as governments, MDBs, and state-owned banks to build support for black carbon emissions reduction through a sectoral approach, alongside research. 
• Engagement of national Governments, including Ministries of Finance, MDBs, and state-owned banks, focusing on developing engagement strategies.
• Build outreach by developing aligned articles, webinars, etc., to inform discourse and raise awareness on sectoral/regional funding opportunities for black carbon mitigation, including sharing learning with regional stakeholders. 

The project will also align with international initiatives on superpollutants and short-lived climate pollutants, as appropriate.