Egypt: Working Towards Better Air Quality in Misr

In Cairo, every September, families close their windows, parents worry about their children’s coughs, and outdoor workers brace themselves for weeks of heavy haze and burning smells.

The annual Black Cloud season, stretching from September to December, had become part of life in Egypt’s capital.

During this season, emissions from open burning of rice stubble routinely adds to those from solid waste burning, transportation, and industry, driving air pollution to dangerous levels.

Air pollution contributes to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, chronic illness, and premature mortality.

In 2020 alone, air pollution accounted for 5.7 million deaths globally, making it the second leading risk factor for death, including among children under five.

In Greater Cairo, pollution is not just a statistic; it is part of daily life.

The health consequences are severe.

In 2017, annual premature deaths in Egypt from ambient Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 exposure were estimated at about 12,600.

The PM2.5 is fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of heart disease, respiratory illness, and premature death.

Each year, the cost of health impacts across Egypt is estimated at 1.4 percent of the national GDP.

These losses are reflected in hospital visits and medical treatment, but also in lost productivity, reduced earnings, and long-term impacts on human capital.

A shift towards early action

Egyptian authorities, with support from the World Bank, are taking clear and coordinated action to tackle this challenge, moving from ad hoc crisis responses to a structured, preventive approach.

In 2025, the Black Cloud season showed signs of early improvements.

That change did not happen by chance.

It was the result of coordinated reforms by the Government, with support from the World Bank-funded Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project.

The introduction of the Black Cloud Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), developed by the Ministry of Environment under the project, marked an important initial step forward.

GRAP introduced an emergency set of measures to combat air pollution triggered by air quality thresholds.

Instead of waiting for pollution to reach crisis levels, authorities can now act at the earlier stages.

As air quality deteriorates, stricter measures are automatically activated, from intensified inspections and traffic management to, when necessary, temporary school closures.

The new coordination framework is beginning to reshape how the authorities respond to air pollution.

Across sectors, authorities now operate within a common system, guided by clear roles and real-time information.

This integrated approach is working to strengthen accountability, build trust across institutions, and enabling faster, more effective responses.

Key elements of this approach comprised faster responses to fire incidents, wider reuse of rice straw, and community outreach.

Burning incidents in Greater Cairo and the Delta fell by nearly two-thirds between 2024 and 2025, dropping from about 3,200 cases to about 1,000.

This was driven by faster response and improved detection.

The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency expanded field teams and extended working hours during peak burning months, while the Waste Management Regulatory Authority improved fleet deployment.

At the same time, a strengthened early warning system using satellite data enabled real-time identification of fire hotspots and quicker response, reducing the risk of small incidents from escalating.

Promoting re-use of rice straw. Seasonal burning of rice straw has long been one of the main drivers of the Black Cloud, as farmers lacked affordable alternatives.

Efforts are being made to promote new business models to re-use rice stubble straw instead of burning them.

For example, in Edko City, Beheira Governorate, the Wood Technology Company processes about 245,000 tons of rice straw each year into medium-density fiberboard used in décor, doors, furniture, and kitchens.

Outreach and behavior change were central to the effort.

Farmers were reminded that open burning is illegal under Law 202 (2020) and subject to fines, while citizens were informed that fires are detected by satellite and reported for enforcement.

Between August and November 2025 alone, more than 11,000 meetings were held, many hosted in mosques to keep communities actively engaged.

Although not yet fully visible, the impact of this shift is evident in the monitoring data from 34 continuous air quality monitoring stations in Greater Cairo which show a sustained decline in PM10 – from a high of 128 µg/m³ in 2020 at the start of the project to 88 µg/m³ in 2025, the lowest level recorded.

Similar improvements are also reflected in one of the global open-source Air Quality Index platforms showing a drop of 12 percent between 2024 and 2025, indicating a measurable improvement in air quality and a reduction in health risks for residents.

Sustaining Progress with further actions

The Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project will continue to help improve air quality in the years ahead, especially with the following investment underway:

The construction of the largest integrated waste management facility in Egypt in 10th of Ramadan City will introduce new models for waste recovery, circularity, and treatment enabling the processing of up to 15,000 tons of waste per day.

This will further reduce open burning of waste.

A Public Private Partnership is being developed to operate the facility for municipal solid waste.

The introduction of electric buses will substantially cut exhaust emissions, improve air quality along the city’s busiest corridors, and provide safer, cleaner transport.

The project recently launched its first electric bus for testing.

Once testing is complete, the 100 e-bus fleet will be manufactured locally, creating 300 direct jobs and up to 15,000 across the supply chain.

Scale-up is already being discussed with another 2,000 e-buses being tendered by the Ministry of Transportation.

The expansion of PM2.5 and black carbon monitoring network and the introduction of cutting-edge air quality forecasting system, combined with greater access to data will enable more effective regulatory actions to protect public health.

The skies over Cairo are not yet clear.

But the recent progress suggests that air pollution is not an inevitable consequence of growth.

With the right policies, investments, and systems, cleaner air can go hand in hand with stronger economic performance and improved social well-being.