Green Development

PRC paired large-scale clean-energy investment with a financing innovation: a multiyear cluster lending program across the Greater Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region committed roughly $2.45–2.55 billion across eight loans between 2015 and 2020 [1]. The program introduced the PRC’s first Green Financing Platform and its first Clean Air Bonds aligned with the Climate Bonds Standard, and the surrounding region—home to nearly a third of national GDP—saw average PM2.5 fall 27% between 2015 and 2019 [2]. ADB has since promoted the model for replication through regional knowledge-sharing seminars [3].

Evidence cards

Implementation considerations

• Green bond issuance needs a credible monitoring, reporting, and verification system in place first — the financing tool follows the data, not the other way around.
• Cluster lending works best where one metro region carries outsized economic and pollution weight, concentrating impact.
• Policy-based lending requires a counterpart government willing to commit to phased, sequenced reform — not just capital.

Where else has this worked?

• Improving Air Quality in the PRC: Lessons from the BTH Region

  ADB East Asia Working Paper No. 75 · June 2025
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• ADB Supports Air Quality Improvement and First Clean Air Bonds in PRC

  ADB news release
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• Learning from PRC’s Clean Energy Innovations

  RKSI seminar
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Adaptation guidance for other cities

• Start with an MRV baseline before structuring any green-bond instrument — lenders and bond markets need verifiable data, not intentions.
• Identify whether one metro region concentrates enough economic and pollution weight to justify a cluster-style program, rather than spreading financing thin nationally.
• Sequence reforms before capital: PRC’s model paired policy-based lending with phased commitments, not a single disbursement.