According to the World Health Organisation, Georgia's capital Tbilisi is among Europe's top three most polluted metropolises. Nearly four thousand people die annually due to long-term exposure to smog. It also damages the potential of the city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for tourism. In industrial towns, pollution is caused by obsolete power plants and heavy industries. In other places, mostly by cars in poor technical condition, or by heating using solid fuels.

Clean air for Georgia

The first step on the road to improving Georgia's air quality is reliable information. The governmental network consists of only several up-to-date automated air quality stations. In the similarly sized Czech Republic, there are about two hundred such devices in operation. In 2023-2024, Arnika was supporting AirGE – citizens science air pollution monitoring network, organized by the Green Pole. Due to high number of the monitoring stations and publishing the data online, the network gives a good idea of the current pollution level.