Mongolia reminds green hills, year-around blue skies, and never-ending terrains. However, the state of the capital city Ulaanbaatar is in a much different condition: currently filled with the toxic-level air pollution that accounts for 132 deaths in 100,000 people. This life-threatening situation remains the same despite the constant efforts from international and national agencies. 

Due to underdeveloped industrialism, Mongolia relies heavily upon mining and domestic raw materials. Since there are no industrial centers scattered around Mongolia, half of the citizens reside in Ulaanbaatar, a center of mass concentration of people and economic activity. However, the initial plan of caping beyond those than 500 million people failed as 2 million people currently live in Ulaanbaatar. This overpopulation leaves many of the migrants to stay in the northern districts, filled with ger yurts that burn coals to resist the -40 degrees Celsius in the wintertime.

Because of this unique circumstance, Mongolia cannot solve the problem of air pollution by just filtering out industrial wastes. The vicious cycle of burning cheap coal to stay warm and then suffering from medical expenses because of illness caused by air pollution is rapidly taking over lower-class Mongolians. 

The assumption of Mongolians lacking in renewable energies due to lack of supply lands no ground as Mongolia enjoys more than 250 days of sunshine a year and boasts a potential wind capacity of 1,100 Gigawatts according to the Ministry of Agency statistics. Then why is Mongolia still suffering from air pollution, even though the demand and supply is present?

This mystery relies heavily upon the financial restrictions faced as a developing country. In short, the Mongolian sector of renewable energy needs international investments which is why as an ambassador of Mongolia to the Tunza community, I ask you to share this article to draw more attention to this problem and ultimately improve the sector of renewable energy in Mongolia.