Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 researchers provide recommendations on greening the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
A new report launched at Davos last week proposes a framework of guiding principles and actions to ensure that China鈥檚 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) delivers sustainable and resilient infrastructure investment.
The BRI is the world鈥檚 largest programme of investment in infrastructure, spanning more than 70 countries and two-thirds of the world鈥檚 population. Development on such a scale offers tremendous opportunities to build sustainable, resilient infrastructure systems, but to achieve sustainable outcomes, all parties will need to act.
Greening emerging economies
The report 鈥楪reening the Belt and Road Initiative鈥 was prepared by WWF in partnership with HSBC and with academic input from dr. Julian Kirchherr, dr. Pita Verweij, Lars Repp and Ralf van Santen from Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, in cooperation with prof. and from the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at Oxford 木瓜福利影视. The report sets out the risks and opportunities associated with the BRI, and offers a series of recommendations for sustainable investment. Project lead Julian Kirchherr on the report: 鈥淭he Belt and Road Initiative, as the largest infrastructure initiative ever, provides a significant opportunity for greening many emerging economies around the world. Our report is a first attempt to outline principles and initiatives that may help to leverage the BRI as an opportunity."
However, there are also large risks involved. As Pita Verweij explains: 鈥淣ew roads are expected to cross valuable nature areas and will lead to expansion of agriculture in drought prone areas. BRI routes overlap with the habitats of 265 threatened species including 39 critically endangered species. There is currently a strong focus on oil and gas pipelines. Unless investments are 鈥榞reened鈥, this is a recipe for disaster.鈥
Recommendations
The recommendations include: limiting investments to sustainable infrastructure which complies with environmental standards, best practice and regulations, and alongside stakeholder involvement, transparency and monitoring of impacts; to aim to invest in future-proofed environmentally friendly infrastructure; and to avoid development which would negatively impact natural habitats. The report also makes recommendations to the financial sector to integrate sustainability in decision making; scale up sustainable infrastructure and demonstrate the business opportunities from sustainable approaches.