While most of the year Ulaanbaatar’s skies are clear, between November and March, visibility beyond a few blocks is nearly impossible in many parts of the city. Coal burning by the 175,000 households in the ger districts, for cooking and heating, contributes to the severity of air pollution in wintertime – summer air pollution is much lower. Ulaanbaatar’s “harmful dust” is 6-7 times higher than the most lenient World Health Organization standards.

A national programme for fighting air-pollution was approved by Mongolian Parliament at a meeting on 20^th of March. The programme has two parts; the short term 2017-2018 and the medium term 2018-2021. The Government intends to totally ban using coal in ger districts after implementing the 59 measures contained in the programme. It is expected that it will be possible to decrease the source of air-pollution by 80%, dust and CO2 by 50%.

According to the survey, 697 in each 10,000  residents of Ulaanbaatar were sick primarily due to the effects of pollution in 2005, however, it reached 1730 in 2014. This last winter's ratio is expected to be higher still.