International Workshop on Air Quality Improvement in the Greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

The workshop intends to share the (i) analytical research on the air quality related issues, (ii) lessons learned and good practices from ADB’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) program, (iii) technology and financial innovations for air quality improvement, and (iv) policy and regulatory development on air quality improvement. It will be a platform for information exchanges, learning and cooperation on air quality improvement between governments, enterprises, scientific research institutions, non-governmental organizations, multilateral development banks, financial institutions and other stakeholders. Various PRC agencies and ministries, and municipal and provincial governments will attend.  Representatives from Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Nepal, who are facing the similar air quality issues, will also join the workshop.

ADB provided a multiyear, multisector support program for air quality improvement in the greater BTH region from 2015-2020. The first loan, approved in 2015, focused on reforming policy and strengthening regulatory capacity in Hebei province. The second loan, approved in 2016, targeted better access to finance, especially for small and medium sized-enterprises, to scale up investments in pollution-reduction projects in the region. The third loan, approved in 2017, targeted advance technology deployment throughout the region in large emitters in agriculture, energy, transport, and urban sectors to provide air pollution reduction at scale. In 2018, ADB supported a clean heating and cooling project in Shandong Province by integrating various clean and renewable energy technologies for district and distributed heating and cooling systems. Coal-based heating in urban, peri-urban, and rural households is major cause of rising level of outdoor and indoor air pollution during the winter months.