In Bogotá, WRI Colombia led efforts to improve the city’s air quality alert system and reduce pollution in key neighborhoods across the city. From 2020 to 2025, WRI Colombia worked closely with members of the community, the city’s secretariats of the environment and mobility, and the mayor’s office to address air quality on multiple fronts using practical data and tools.

Deep Dive Cities Initiative

Through its Deep Dive Cities initiative, WRI Ross Center works in a deep and sustained way with a network of cities to develop both long-term relationships and solutions to entrenched urban challenges. Learn more here.

For several years, WRI Colombia’s Deep Dive Cities team has supported Bogotá’s clean air goals. In 2024, the city unveiled a masterplan, Plan Aire 2030, launching its first Clean Air Zone and setting a benchmark to reduce air pollution by 30% by 2030.  It’s estimated that this goal will prevent more than 840 premature deaths a year and save the city $1.7 billion annually.

Arming Cities with Better Air Quality Data

In 2020, WRI helped upgrade Bogotá’s existing air quality forecasting system using CanAIRy Alert. By running Bogotá’s local air quality data through CanAIRy Alert’s machine-learning platform, WRI Colombia helped equip the city with a bias-corrected forecast system that can produce air quality predictions up to five days in advance of high-pollution events.

City officials were able to make evidence-based, real-time decisions to protect residents, especially those from vulnerable groups like children, elderly people and those with chronic health conditions. With advance notice, the city could recommend that vulnerable residents adapt their routines and reduce their exposure to pollution by avoiding open spaces during high-pollution hours, reducing their use of private vehicles to lower emissions, and increasing their use of public or active transportation, such as biking or walking, if they could do so safely. 

Tackling Air Quality on the Ground

In addition to improving air quality monitoring, the team worked with the city to assess how urban design enhancements could improve local air quality. The Barrios Vitales pilot program saw the installation of new bike lanes, green spaces and expanded pedestrian zones in San Felipe, a residential neighborhood just outside of Bogotá’s downtown area. 

To estimate the impacts on air quality improvements, WRI developed a series of air quality impact indicators that include: estimated changes in pollution emission reduction (in tons of PM2.5 avoided per year); the reduction in exposure to air pollutants in specific areas, such as public spaces, streets, parks and schools; and the increase of the percentage of days attaining local air quality standards.

Data was collected before and after the intervention was completed, and the initial findings showed that during the first year PM2.5 levels dropped by 13%. Furthermore, the neighborhood saw a 44% decrease in road crashes. Public transport use increased by 81%, and trips by bike and scooter also rose by 82%. 

This was the first pilot of its kind in Latin America, with the potential to be replicated across many more neighborhoods and cities. Bogotá hopes to be a model for other cities in Colombia, like Cali, Medellín and Barranquilla.

Driving Long-Term Change through Collaboration

From the outset, WRI Colombia and Colombia’s secretariats of environment and mobility shared a clear vision: to enhance air quality and safeguard the health of citizens.  WRI Colombia’s Deep Dive Cities team worked to actively break down institutional silos and foster a collaborative culture between technicians, decision-makers, academics and the community. This alignment allowed the teams to move nimbly, make informed decisions and build joint solutions.

WRI shared its technical expertise in air quality impact indicators and access to global forecast models (such as NASA's GEOS-CF), while the secretariats’ offices provided knowledge of the territory and local operations and implemented suggested measures. This combination enabled the transformation of complex data into actionable steps.

What’s Next for Deep Dive Cities Colombia?

Going forward, WRI Colombia will continue to support air quality improvement efforts in Bogotá through its deep engagement with the city. With the Barrios Vitales program expanding to the Las Cruces, El Porvenir, Chapinero and San Cristóbal neighborhoods in Bogotá, WRI Colombia will provide analysis of microscale data to evaluate air quality, noise and micro-environmental conditions. These analyses will help Bogotá identify causes of pollution and which public space interventions could help with mitigation.

In partnership with the new Breathe Cities initiative, WRI Colombia will continue clean air efforts in Bogotá by implementing two new strategies to improve air quality:

  • Transitioning mopeds to electric models to reduce emissions in congested urban areas.
  • Electrifying school bus fleets, prioritizing educational environments and areas of high vulnerability to pollution.

WRI Ross Center’s Deep Dive Cities Initiative focuses on locally driven strategic projects as entry points to foster long-term, cross-sectoral and transformative change. Through the initiative, WRI provides strategic funding and additional technical capacity to support a wide range of projects. The initiative also allows WRI to share lessons learned from across its network of partner cities.