“I no longer know what a healthy lung sounds like,” says Ganjargal Demberel, a doctor in Ulaanbaatar. Ulaanbaatar is the capital city of Mongolia, home to nearly half of Mongolia’s population. The city is perpetually smothered under a permanent white smog; its citizens racked with coughing fits and wheezing lungs.

Especially in winter, Ulaanbaatar is one of the most highly polluted areas in the world, with its average yearly particulate matter (PM)—tiny solid particles suspended in the air—at the unhealthy level of PM2.5 in 2016.  At PM 2.5, the danger of fine particles penetrating deep into the lungs and causing severe health issues is elevated; this level of particle pollution exceeds the WHO guideline for the annual mean concentration by 25 times. Local sensors report even more jarring statistics: in January 2018, PM 2.5 measurements were detected at 133 times the recommended levels. These statistics are alarming, especially for a country with little industry. What, then, is causing the alarming air pollution in Ulaanbaatar?

Raw coal. Unlike many developing countries, Mongolia suffers real and severe effects of burning coal as their primary source of fuel. Though fuel is necessary for warmth and to prevent hypothermia in winter, the poor air quality resulting from burning coal has long yielded alarming effects among children, who, from birth, are particularly susceptible to chronic respiratory infections like pneumonia and asthma, the main cause of childhood mortality in Ulaanbaatar. Toxic particles in the air have hindered lung development in 40% of young children according to reports from UNICEF[BK1] . Even before children draw their first breaths, pollution places them under the threat of stillbirth, preterm birth, and lower birth weight.

Despite suffocating under black clouds of smoke, Ulaanbaatar is unable to phase out its dependence on coal. Ambitiously, Mongolia pledged to achieve 20% renewable energy sources by 2020, and 30% renewable energy sources by 2030. However, in 2018, Mongolia’s total renewable electricity production stood at only 7% -- the reason being, Ulaanbaatar’s dependence of coal sets Mongolia into what seems like an energy deadlock.

The reason for this impasse is twofold. First, Mongolia’s economic interests result in the underdevelopment of renewable sources of energy. Mongolia’s high-quality raw coal accounts for 33% of Mongolia’s export economy, rendering Mongolia dependent on coal export to bring in much needed revenue. Mongolia is also racing to export as much of its reserves as possible before coal powered plants in other countries are internationally shut down in a global coal phase out. "We need to use this window of opportunity, use the next 10 years to be able to export as much coal as we can," deputy mining minister Batnairamdal Otgonshar told AFP.

In addition, poverty is another mounting obstacle to phasing out coal. Raw coal is the only option for warmth for lower income families in the surrounding huts of the city, or ger districts, where 60% of Ulaanbaatar’s population reside in tents and impermanent huts independently burning coal for warmth. Families in these tent, or ger, districts spend 25–40% of their income on fuel. With Ulaanbaatar’s freezing temperatures, often reaching -40 degrees Fahrenheit, “If you take coal out of the ger, people will burn anything,” Batmend Shirgal, an engineer raised in Ulaanbaatar predicts. When China banned coal in Beijing, despite government subsidies to incentivize alternative energy sources such as natural gas stoves, many found fuel far too expensive and thus unaffordable. This invoked criticism over China’s policies as well as human-rights abuse allegations. If Mongolia pursued the same policy, the situation would most likely be worse.  

        At this point, it is unlikely for Mongolia to anticipate a carbon-neutral future, not only due to its reliance on coal, but also because it lacks the resources to distribute generated renewable energy from other sources. The current problem is not the burning of coal, but how Mongolia is doing it.

Other factors also contribute to the terrible air quality in Ulaanbaatar. For example, poorly planned urban centers and infrastructure following post-Soviet occupation, resulted in inefficient energy distribution. The city of Ulaanbaatar was constructed in the Soviet era, yet despite its faltering infrastructure, its old power and heating systems remains intact. At the bare minimum, each household is connected to a centralized system of insulated pipes for power and heating, powered by coal-fired combined heat and power plants and smaller coal-fired heat-only boilers. What’s problematic is the gers surrounding the city, which produce 80% of total carbon emissions. Gers began emerging in the 1990s, as people were pushed toward the capital by poverty.

The solution to Mongolia’s energy problem is not simple nor one-sided; it would require a dedicated commitment to employing past and progressing technology. Mongolia currently faces resistance to phasing out coal, but technology helps mitigate its harms. One practice that would greatly alleviate the effects of independent coal burning is the subsidization of briquette, or refined coal production, to replace raw coal in the marketplace. Semi-coke briquettes (made from coal) are processed to remove substances that form toxic particles when burned, such as elemental carbon, organic carbon, and carbon monoxide. In addition, they have a higher burnout ratio, and so burning briquettes means burning less coal per unit of useful energy produced. Briquette processing technology is therefore a cost effective and feasible short-term solution to Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution, without levying heavy costs on its inhabitants. Since their implementation in 2019, briquettes have yielded significant results lowering particulate matter emissions and while remaining widely accepted by the general public.

In addition to briquetting, improvements in infrastructure are also a viable solution. This can be accomplished through updating current infrastructure in Ulaanbaatar and integrating ger areas into the current energy grid, mostly through introducing energy efficient electric heaters to gers. Although Mongolia’s energy grid continues to be powered mostly by coal, centralizing coal burning to power plants opens a world of opportunities. For instance, equipment may be introduced to reduce toxic particles from emissions via various equipment, such as scrubbers, which are long used to clean sulfur from the emitted smoke. After securing centralized and efficient energy distribution systems, it becomes more feasible to then switch to renewable energy. In the United States, for instance, coal power plants are converted to renewable energy plants to take advantage of existing energy distribution systems.

In the long run, an elaborate “super-grid” may be established as a solution to Mongolia’s energy problems. By bringing together countries throughout Northeast Asia (China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, and possibly Russia) in a united energy sharing network, Mongolia might make the best use of each country’s renewable energy sources. However, such megaprojects are unlikely to be achieved in the near future, due to geopolitical complications, as well as technological and financial limitations.

It is imperative to remember that Mongolia’s energy problem is multi-faceted, requiring a comprehensive solution with the help of modern technology. Mongolia has vast natural resources and abundant opportunities to eventually incorporate renewable energy into its energy infrastructure. As Mongolia perfects its policies toward eliminating air pollution, perhaps, in the near future, Mongolia may be able to truly phase out coal and provide Ulaanbaatar’s residents with a breath of fresh air.