A UN report lauded Beijing's efforts to battle air pollution but said it needs to do more to meet particulate matter standards.

"A Review of Air Pollution Control in Beijing: 1998-2013" was published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, the bureau said Wednesday.

Beijing's population grew by 70 percent in the past 15 years, while the number of registered vehicles increased by 303 percent and energy consumption rose by 76 percent, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner remarked in the foreword to the report.

"Remarkably, concentrations of key pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and inhalable particulate matter, decreased by 78 percent, 24 percent and 43 percent, respectively. Notwithstanding significant challenges, the city improved air quality even as it maintained fast-paced growth," he wrote.

"As the capital of the world's most populous country, Beijing's experience in controlling air pollution against a backdrop of rapid expansion is a story that should be shared with other emerging economies and burgeoning cities," he said.

Beijing's solution was a combination of energy structure optimization, control of coal-fired plant emissions, vehicle emissions control and enhanced air quality monitoring, said He Kebin, director of Tsinghua University's School of Environment and one of the authors of the report.

"The report recognized Beijing's continual efforts to improve air quality. The monitoring data showed that the integrated approaches of legislative, administrative, economic and technical measures have taken effect. In the future, technical measures will be an important measure," He said.

The report also offered some suggestions, including improving city planning, optimizing the layout of city functions, promoting clean energy, intensifying control of coal-fired emissions, advancing the development of the transit system and promoting a regional development plan for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.