Second Beijing Environment Project

The project’s objectives are to: (a) improve the quality of life for the citizens of Beijing by alleviating the city’s acute air and water pollution problems; and (b) significantly reduce China’s GHG emissions. It has three components: energy conversion and efficiency; wastewater treatment; and environment capacity-building. GEF assistance is requested to remove the barriers to successful implementation of the project’s two major energy components. One of these components will convert least 2,500 small (below 20 t/hr), space-heating boilers from coal to natural gas, (small boilers being the largest cause of ambient air pollution), and, by reducing the cost of gas boilers and creating conversion capacity, will indirectly facilitate at least another 2,500 boiler conversions. The second component will improve the energy efficiency of the city’s extensive district heating systems. Together, these two components will reduce carbon emissions by about 26.7 million tonnes over 20 years, at a unit abatement cost to the GEF of less than $1/tC.