How Our Shared Vision with the UNDP Led to a Powerful New Toolkit

When the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched an Open Innovation Challenge to design a low-cost hyperlocal air quality monitoring toolkit, we at AirGradient knew it was a mission we wanted to be part of. Addressing global challenges like air pollution requires solutions to be scalable, accessible, and grounded in practical application. That’s why, together with the UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development, we developed a toolkit with one clear goal: to make local air quality data accessible to everyone, everywhere.

AirGradient’s founder and CEO, Achim Haug, in front of the UNDP Country Office in Vietnam – the site of our toolkit pilot project

Our Shared Vision

At AirGradient, we believe everyone has the right to know what’s in the air they breathe. Our mission is to design open-source, low-cost air quality monitors that prioritize transparency, accessibility, and local ownership, empowering communities to understand and take action on the air quality around them.

We share the same vision as UNDP: clean air should be recognised as a universal necessity and clean air solutions need to be scalable, equitable, and accessible, particularly for communities in low- and middle-income countries.

Ultimately, our commitment to accessibility, community empowerment, and actionable data was recognised, and we are proud to have been selected as the winner of the Open Innovation Challenge.

The Challenge We Set Out to Solve

Air pollution represents one of the most salient environmental and public health crises of our time, particularly in developing countries. It is responsible for approximately one in nine deaths worldwide and imposes a significant economic burden. In 2019, 89% of the 4.2 million premature deaths caused by outdoor air pollution occurred in low- and middle-income countries, with the highest impact in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region. The health effects range from respiratory infections and cardiovascular diseases to cognitive impairment.

Yet, for many of the communities most affected, reliable local air quality data remains either unavailable or unaffordable. Why? Because many of these are still ill-informed about the severity of air pollution, and because traditional monitoring systems are expensive and complex to operate, especially in secondary and tertiary cities that lack technical expertise and resources.

Having access to hyperlocal air quality data is essential for policymakers when it comes to implementing effective interventions. Air quality is highly dependent on local factors such as climate, geography, urban density, and social behavioural patterns. Therefore, for data to be truly representative of a given area, it needs to be hyperlocal. This means that it can capture the unique conditions of individual neighbourhoods or even streets, rather than broad city-wide averages. This gives the data the best chances of being used for impactful means, seeing as it provides communities with tailored indications of the changes that need to be made where they live, work, and go to school.

The air quality of individual locations, such as this market in Hanoi, Vietnam, is influenced by unique local factors

That’s why the UNDP launched its Open Innovation Challenge: to find a partner who could create an affordable, easy-to-use toolkit for users to independently set-up their own air quality monitoring networks, which will contribute to closing the data gap.

Our Powerful New Toolkit

The challenge was not just about deploying sensors – it was about making the data accessible, actionable, and supported with guidance at every step. Our toolkit provides a comprehensive platform for learning, collaboration, and empowerment. It includes:

• Step-by-step guides for setting up sensors and connecting them to platforms
• Calibration tools to improve accuracy in varied environmental conditions
• Visualization dashboards and maps to help interpret trends and identify pollution hotspots
• Creative Commons licensing for anyone to adapt and localize the content

To underscore this commitment to openness, the entire toolkit is free, open-source, and designed for maximum flexibility. Our objective is to empower people with tools and knowledge, not to lock them into a specific brand or solution. That’s why the toolkit includes a designated module that allows users to decide which data platform to use, enabling it to work with other platforms, not just with AirGradient. To this end, we have also created a chapter specific to guiding users on how to use the toolkit with non-AirGradient monitors.

Turning Data Into Action: How Communities Benefit

In the long term, data from these low-cost sensors have the potential to inform decision-making in urban planning, public health, and environmental policy whilst simultaneously strengthening community involvement, trust, and capacity-building. But to achieve this impact, communities must be able to understand and act on the data, because knowing what’s in the air around you is the first step to changing it.

This toolkit builds on the community foundation that we have established with partners worldwide. Organizations like Sustenta Honduras show how young leaders can drive environmental monitoring initiatives in their own neighborhoods. In Ecuador, Pacha Ayllu has pioneered community-based clean air observatories that empower residents to track pollution levels and push for cleaner, healthier environments. In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, partnerships with institutions like UNICEF demonstrate how these solutions can be scaled across entire regions, with AirGradient monitors deployed across 150 schools nationwide.

In Honduras, for example, high school students trained through Sustenta’s program are not only collecting data but presenting their findings to local officials, sparking conversations about air quality regulations that didn’t exist before. Stories like these show how access to reliable, hyperlocal data can make a real impact.

Does your community lack local air quality data, or are you planning to set up your own air quality monitoring network? You can access the toolkit here to find documentation and resources to guide you along every stage of your project.

To learn more, you can explore the full UNDP Open Innovation Challenge and read about the project on the UNDP’s blog page. Stay tuned as we report on our ongoing pilot project in Vietnam and continue working with communities, governments, and partners around the world to make clean air monitoring accessible for all.