The year 2020 has proven to be more turbulent than anyone could have expected, and it is only June. While in February we asked if 2020 would be the year of China’s global green leadership, hoping that the Covid-19 virus outbreak would be short-lived, by March we already we had to incorporate broader-than-expected fallout…
Many countries of the Belt and Road Initiative are among the world’s major energy producing and consuming countries. At the same time, they are mostly developing countries, with the requirement to continue expanding its energy markets. As many of China’s investment and financing projects along Silk Road have climate effects,…
The original interview with Prof. Yao Wang in Chinese can be found here. Translation by Yiwei Qi. What contribution will the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) make to tackling climate change and realizing global green and sustainable development? What impacts and opportunities will green and low-carbon development path bring to…
Summary – from climate to biodiversity in the BRI and beyond In the midst of increasing global awareness of environmental and sustainability problems, two interconnected issues are high on the agenda for 2020: climate change and biodiversity. This is in particular true for China who is both under pressure to…
While green bonds remain the most mature instruments, a wide range of innovative financial solutions are rapidly developing. Issuing green bonds, i.e. bonds whose proceeds are earmarked for funding climate and environmental-friendly projects, is an effective and increasingly popular way to achieve this end. In just over a decade, annual…
For a Chinese version, click here. On July 26, 2019, Kenya’s National Environmental tribunal ruled that the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) license for the Lamu coal fired power plant in Kenya was insufficient and that the construction had to be stopped. While this ruling explicitly states that this…
In essence, the SDGs can only be met if they are an integral part of the development paths of countries under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As the original 65 countries under the BRI collectively account for over 30% of global GDP, 62% of population, and 75% of known…
Executive Summary How MDB Characteristics can Address the BRI’s Green Challenges through Financing Solutions, Coordination Activities, and Policy Support Simply put, global climate and environmental goals can only be met if they are an integral part of the development paths of BRI countries. This is true alone because BRI collectively…
MDBs are increasing their involvement in sustainable infrastructure finance by scaling up climate investments and by integrating social and environmental issues into their general financing requirements as a cross-cutting issue. Based on their characteristics MDBs can play a number of important roles in greening the BRI. For the context of…
Spain is located on the new Euroasian land bridge in the Silk Road Economic Belt. Although Spain has not yet officially assigned to the BRI cooperation, it has jointly released with China the Joint Statement on Strengthening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the visit of China’s President Xi in Nov 2018,…