On Thursday, the Asian Development Bank announced that they have approved a third loan worth $506 million to help China improve the air quality in the regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
The loan aims to encourage these regions to support large-scale adoption of advanced technologies by major emitting industries from transportation to power generation.
The country has already received two loans in 2015 and 2016 which amounted to $800 million in total and were used to strengthen policy reforms and regulatory capacity in Hebei. The money was also used to assist small and medium firms to increase investments in pollution-reduction projects.
Heibei province is currently the home of six of China's smoggiest cities for the year and the main focus of the country's fight against air pollution.
The country aims to cut down concentrations of hazardous airborne particles or PM2.5 by 25% by the end of 2017. However, despite efforts to cut down emissions, some areas in the province had reported increases in PM2.5 levels such as in the case of Handan City. The city reported an average increase of 8.8% in October and November for the PM2.5 levels.
In a statement regarding the loan approval, Lin Lu, senior energy specialist at ADB's East Asia Department, said "We remain committed to helping the Chinese government improve air quality and reduce pollution in the greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, where a third of the country's economic growth comes from."
It is expected that the loan would be able to bring in 1.3 billion euros of co-financing from both public and private sectors to assist in the campaign against air pollution.
