I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn and here's what I'm watching: the future of the Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, in catalyzing a "green and sustainable world economy"— following the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, celebrating the BRI's 10th anniversary.
President Xi Jinping has explained his grand vision, "Over these 10 years, we have endeavored to build a global network of connectivity consisting of economic corridors, international transportation routes and information highway as well as railways, roads, airports, ports, pipelines and power grids." Xi was saying, in effect, China is able and ready to work with the Global South in its historic struggle to redress the wrongs of colonialism and unequal development.
President Xi announced "eight major steps" China will take to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Here I focus on the fourth: promoting green development as a central guiding principle of the BRI, including green infrastructure, green energy and green transportation. China will provide 100,000 training opportunities in Green Investment Principles for partner countries by 2030.
In the BRI's early years, green was less important than rapid development and some BRI projects were criticized as being highly polluting, which mirrored China's own historical experience. Fundamental change came when, in 2021, President Xi surprised the world by pledging that China would no longer build new coal-fired power projects abroad and it would enhance support for low-carbon development. In today's BRI, China is ramping up financing for low-carbon development and adopting a green project pipeline to align with Xi's green directives.
Green is now the BRI's background color: China is establishing green and low-carbon cooperation mechanisms, and stepping up support for the BRI International Green Development Coalition with more than 150 partners from more than 40 countries; launching green development partnerships with 31 countries; building an ecological and environmental protection big data service platform; setting up an environmental technology exchange and transfer center and implementing the South-South Cooperation Plan to address climate change.
Hydropower stations, wind power stations, photovoltaic power stations, oil and gas pipelines and intelligent and accessible power transmission networks have made energy shortages no longer a bottleneck for development. For example, the De Aar wind power project constructed and operated by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in South Africa not only meets the electricity needs of more than 300,000 local residents, but also reduces carbon emissions by nearly 700,000 tons every year. And the Karot hydropower station in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor generated, in just over a year, 3.64 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, meeting the demands of more than 5 million residents.
China has BRI green energy projects with more than 100 countries and regions, and China's investment in green and low-carbon energy exceeds that in traditional energy.
But will green meet the demand for development? China says it is up to the challenge.
I'm keeping watch. I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn.
Script: Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Editors: Yang Yutong, Liang Zhiqiang
Designer: Qi Haiming
Producer: Sun Lan
Chief Editor: Ren Yan
Supervisors: Xiao Jian, Adam Zhu
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