Last year, the Mongolian Government allocated a total of MNT102 billion from the state budget to reduce air pollution. Although actions for reducing air pollution have been implemented, such as providing families in Ulaanbaatar's ger (yurt) districts with stoves that emit less smoke, the results – according to some – have not been as positive as anticipated. So far, 97.6% of ger district households received 'low smoke' stoves and air pollution has fallen by nearly 30% in Ulaanbaatar. Despite this positive indicator, the project was terminated.

 According to officials, "Ulaanbaatar's air pollution decreased by 26% last year, however, we haven't seen the results". The Mongolian Parliament has decided to trim spending in the battle with air pollution.

According to a medical survey, air pollution causes one in ten deaths in the Mongolian capital. It is blamed for 52.9% of respiratory diseases, 39.9% of lung cancer cases and  28.8% of heart disease.

Ulaanbaatar has 1.3 million residents — almost half the country's population — and gers have proliferated as a cheap and common form of housing. Since they are not linked to the city's central heating grid, ger -dwellers must burn coal to stay warm. Because the ger-dwellers are generally not well off, they invariably burn poor-quality coal, which emits harmful smoke. This , together with the smoke from the coal-fired power plants and the exhaust from the growing number of motor vehicles on Ulaanbaatar's roads is viewed as the chief culprit for air pollution. Despite the clear success of the 'clean stove' programme, air pollution still remains a problem in Ulaanbaatar as it also does in Beijing and New Delhi.