New Report: The Climate Implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
To download the report and accompanying blog piece from the WRI web page
In a new report with the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI), researchers at the Global Development Policy Center find that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is yet to be aligned with the low-carbon priorities included in BRI countries’ commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.
The report, ‘Moving the Green Belt and Road Initiative: from Words to Actions,’ provides an assessment of the degree to which Chinese energy and transportation investments in BRI countries from 2014-2017 align with the green energy priorities stated in BRI countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The analysis is based on calculating commercial bank loans and investments in addition to policy lending and investment from entities such as the China Development Bank and the Silk Road Fund. We juxtapose those flows alongside our quantitative estimates of BRI countries’ NDC priorities in green energy.
We find that most Chinese finance and investment in energy and transportation are heavily tied to carbon-intensive sectors and are not aligned with host country NDCs in BRI countries.
