Blueprinting the BRI for a Greener Future

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A joint recommendation paper supporting the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) low carbon transitions was today released by the Belt and Road Green Development Partnership, a coalition of Chinese NGOs working to advance the green and sustainable development of the BRI.

(April 24 2019, Beijing) A joint recommendation paper supporting the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) low carbon transitions was today released by the Belt and Road Green Development Partnership, a coalition of Chinese NGOs working to advance the green and sustainable development of the BRI.

The recommendation states that Belt and Road investments should advance China’s leading role in the green development of global environmental, climate and energy governance. 

“When investing in Belt and Road countries, the host country's climate objectives and the long-term impact of investment activities on the local environment must be taken into consideration. When investing in energy and power related industries, the host country's climate targets, ecological and environmental protection objectives and related environmental policies should be taken into account in investment decisions as the baseline standard,” said Dr. Yang Fuqiang, Senior Adviser on Climate and Energy with the National Resources Defense Council China Programme, one of the partnership’s member NGOs. 

“We recommend that relevant Chinese authorities establish a guiding principle and a catalogue of green energy investments in Belt and Road countries. In addition, a country-specific, industry specific investment guidance based on each nation's energy development potential and sustainable development goals should also be developed.”  

Greenovation Hub, a China based non governmental organization as well as the coordinating organization of the Partnership, proposes that BRI investments should fully integrate the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, while conducting risk assessment and management according in each country. A more climate resilient and low-carbon investment policy should be implemented while also taking social and economic development into consideration. 

Collected and submitted from 10 NGOs, the document details a total of 11 recommendations and specific measures for greening BRI investments. Recommendations cover the fields of environmental and social risk management, biodiversity conservation, energy and power investment and cooperation, green supply chain development, green investment standard formulation and implementation, stakeholder engagement, information disclosure and transparency, South-South climate cooperation and assistance, and environmental governance experience sharing.

Recommendations 

for the Green Investment and Development of “Belt and Road” Initiative 

“Belt and Road”Green Development Partnership

Proponents: All-China Environment Federation,Chongqing Renewable Energy Society,  Global Environment Institute, Greenovation Hub, innovative Green Development Program (iGDP),Oxfam (Hong Kong) Beijing Office, SEE Foundation,the Nature Conservancy, The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), World Resources Institute (USA) Beijing Representative Office,World Wildlife Fund (WWF) . 

April 24, 2019

The “Belt and Road” Green Development Partnership is a civil society alliance dedicated to promoting the green development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as providing advice and recommendations for its planning and implementation. 

The partnership fully supports the formulation of Green policies and actions in the BRI, and actively promotes the integration of ecological civilization, the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the targets of the Paris Agreement into China's foreign investments and the sustainable development of the “Belt and Road,” as well as promotes China's leading role in the green development of the global environmental, climate and energy governance. 

Leading up to the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), we call on Chinese government, financial institutions and enterprises to adopt the following recommendations for a greener Belt and Road initiative.  

1. Belt and Road policies and implementation should fully integrate the Paris Agreement and the Goals of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We recommend that risk assessment and management should be conducted in B&R investments based on the specific circumstancesof host countries. We recommend that B&R investments promote more climate-resilient and greener investment policies and actions and help BRI countries achieve their NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) and low-carbon transformation by taking the social and economic development into consideration. 
   
2. In addition to complying with the laws and regulations of host countries, China’s BRI investments should adopt higher technical standards and more advanced management methods. Moreover, formulating a systematic and comprehensive ESG (environmental, social, governance) management mechanism is required to effectively identify, assess, and manage the environmental, climate, and social risks throughout the investment process on the basis of learning from international best practices and incorporating the investors' own strategies. 
   
3. We recommend inviting representatives from governmental authorities, academic institutions, civil society and local communities to engage in the early planning of projects with high ecological impacts, such as infrastructure and mining projects. Critical ecological priorities and sensitive areas should be identified in a scientific and effective way to mitigate project impact on the ecosystem. Meanwhile, the potential climate risks resulting from the projects should be fully assessed. Moreover, comprehensive and scientific assessment aiming at the potential climate risks of the projects should be strongly suggested as well as the actionable measures should be taken to enhance climate resilience and reduce environmental and social risks by protecting and restoring land, forests, wetlands and other such “green” infrastructure as well as systematically assessing water resources. 
   
4. When conducting energy and power investment and cooperation in BRI countries, it is recommended to consider the host country's climate objectives and the long-term impact of overseas investment activities on local ecosystems. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as well as the ecological and environmental protection goals of the host country should be considered as baseline criteria for investment decisions. Investment in renewable energy and clean energy should be prioritized, while integrating overall local resources availability. Only under the condition of no other available resources to meet demand for local development and energy access, should coal-fired power with the highest-efficiency technology and compliance with the most advanced international standards should be considered. In addition, we recommend establishing guiding principles and green investment categories for China’s overseas investment in energy sector, and providing country-specific and sectoral policy support to overseas green energy investment based on the energy potential and sustainable development goals of specific countries. For example, countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam which have large potential for energy efficiency improvement, should have energy efficiency improvement included as priority investment areas in country-specific and sectoral directories. 
   
5. We recommend that BRI investment should promote the green transition and capacity cooperation in industries including steel, cement, building materials, petrochemical and other industries considering the actual situation and demand of the BRI countries. A scientific, systematic and eco-friendly evaluation system should be developed for each industry, which should also be promoted as a standard for “Belt and Road” investment as well as a self-disciplinedquirement for the investors. At the same time, we recommend working with host countries to develop and implement targeted environmental solutions so as to deepen the participation of stakeholders, enhance information transparency, and receive and respond to public supervision. 
   
6. It is recommended that enterprises participating in foreign investment should advance their own eco-friendly development, fully integrate corporate social responsibility into their business and activities, implement the development concept of low-carbon energy conservation and practical actions in response to climate change. It is recommended to encourage top enterprises in the afore-mentioned industry to take the lead and demonstrate the practice of the green supply chain so as to facilitate the sectoral development of the green supply chain in steel, cement, building materials, petrochemical and other industries, promote the establishment and employment of green supply chain system and standards development and implementationinrelevant industries. It is recommended. Meanwhile, we recommend comprehensively promoting the green standardization of foreign investment, and boosting the development and cooperation of green evaluation standards, green product standards, green power certification and emission trading system. 
   
7. We recommend that sustainable conservation and management measures should be implemented when investing in countries with abundant forests and other natural resources. To effectively counter deforestation and other negative impacts on the local ecosystem and climate change, protection and management measures on the supply chain should be adopted, especially in regards to investments in the supply chain of agroforestry and related products (wood, paper, soybean, meat, palm oil and rubber). 
   
8. We recommend investors to fully recognize and assess the potential water stress and droughts risks via big data tools when investing in BRI countries, by identifying the water endowments and related challenges of the host countries. Environmental impact assessment and scenario planning should be carried out to better understand the impact on intersectoral and downstream areas. Risk management measures should also be developed and conducted. Water risk throughout the processes of the project (especially in regards to mining, electricity, steel, petrochemical, chemical, textile printing and dyeing, and other high-water consumption industries) should be monitored and managed. Water risk management standards and a system for investment projects should be formulated and incorporated into China's investment project standards for BRI countries. 
   
9. Cooperation on building big data platform, developing information sharing mechanisms and conducting capacity building as well as the experience sharing on pollutants’ online monitoring and environmental information disclosure should also be strengthened between China and BRI countries, assisting local policy makers and Chinese investors better be aware of local environment and water risks and facilitating BRI countries to base their social and economic development plans on water resources and environmental capacities.
   
10. We recommend taking chance of the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2019 and the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in China in 2020, to share the progress of China’s ecological civilization development and to encourage countries to enhance the actions and determinations for biodiversity conservation, to strengthen cooperation between China and BRI countries regarding ecological red lines, natural capital, and strategic environmental impact assessment, and to ensure contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (especially Goal 14 and Goal 15) from the preparation and planning stage of the cooperation. 
   
11. It is recommended to optimize and improve the mechanism and procedure of the South-South climate cooperation and aid project; to disclose project application methods and processes, and build a project database to coordinate and supervise the implementation process of the cooperation and assistance projects; to strengthen the communication and participation of the stakeholders from China and recipient countries; to ensure the effective implementation of all aspects of the cooperation and assistance projects; to timely evaluate project implementation, effectiveness, publicity and to provide feedback; and to summarize experiences and actively disseminate the project results.