LESSONS FROM THE GREATERBEIJING-TIANJIN-HEBEI REGION Lei Zhang and Lijun Zhou ADB EAST ASIAWORKING PAPER SERIES ADB East Asia Working Paper Series Improving Air Quality in the People’s Republic of China:Lessons from the Greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region Lei Zhang and Lijun ZhouNo. 75 | June 2025 Lei Zhang is head of the project administration unit of theEnergy Sector Office, Sectors Department 1 at the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB). Lijun Zhou is an ADB consultant. TheADB East Asia Working Paper Seriesis a forum for stimulating discussion andeliciting feedback on ongoing and recentlycompleted research and policy studiesundertaken by ADB’s East Asia Department.The views expressed are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect the views andpolicies of ADB or its Board of Governors orthe governments they represent. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) © 2025 Asian Development Bank6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, PhilippinesTel +63 2 8632 4444; Fax +63 2 8636 2444www.adb.org Some rights reserved. Published in 2025. Publication Stock No. WPS250197-2DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/WPS250197-2 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policiesof the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for anyconsequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that theyare endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, ADB does notintend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. This publication is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be boundby the terms of this license. For attribution, translations, adaptations, and permissions, please read the provisionsand terms of use at https://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess. This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributedto another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it.ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material. Please contact pubsmarketing@adb.org if you have questions or comments with respect to content, or if you wishto obtain copyright permission for your intended use that does not fall within these terms, or for permission to usethe ADB logo. Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda. Notes:In this publication, “$” refers to United States dollars, “CNY” refers to yuan, and “€” refers to euros. ADB recognizes “China” as the People’s Republic of China. TheADB East Asia Working Paper Seriesis a forum for stimulating discussion and eliciting feedback onongoing and recently completed research and policy studies undertaken by the East Asia Department ofthe Asian Development Bank (ADB) staff, consultants, or resource persons. The series deals with key economicand development problems, as well as conceptual, analytical, or methodological issues relating to project/programeconomic analysis, and statistical data and measurement. The series aims to enhance the knowledge on Asia’sdevelopment and policy challenges; strengthen analytical rigor and quality of ADB’s country partnership strategies,and its subregional and country operations; and improve the quality and availability of statistical data anddevelopment indicators for monitoring development effectiveness. TheADB East Asia Working Paper Seriesis a quick-disseminating, informal publication whose titles couldsubsequently be revised for publication as articles in professional journals or chapters in books. The seriesis maintained by the East Asia Department. CONTENTS TABLE, FIGURES, AND BOXESivACKNOWLEDGMENTSvABBREVIATIONSviEXECUTIVE SUMMARYviiI.INTRODUCTION1II.CASE STUDIES3Policy Reforms Enhancement7Green Finance, High-Level Technology Promotion, and Private Sector Involvement10Efficient and Cleaner Heating and Cooling Solutions20III.ACHIEVEMENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED25IV.CONCLUSION AND THE WAY FORWARD27APPENDIX 1: PROBLEM TREE ANALYSIS29APPENDIX 2: ADB-FINANCED LOAN PROJECTS IN THE GREATER30BEIJING–TIANJIN–HEBEI REGION IN 2015–2020REFERENCES31 TABLE, FIGURES, AND BOXES TABLE ADB-Financed Loan Projects in the Greater Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region in 2015–20206 FIGURES 1Core Issue and Main CausesA1Problem Tree Analysis 429 BOXES 1Zibo New Energy Transportation Promotion Subproject122High-Tech Innovations for Cleaner Air and Susta