Belt and Road Initiative & Bangladesh
3.2 Paris climate agreement and BRI
•
.
•
China is a signatory of the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is gradually aiming to
move towards more sustainable infrastructure. It has taken the lead in international
discussions on climate change by committing to fulfil the Paris Agreement.
China has also heavily invested in solar and wind power industries. As a result, in the
past decade global prices of renewable energy had fallen sharply.
However, reliance on fossil fuel to implement BRI projects may be contradictory to its
climate commitment. Two leading Chinese banks, namely the China Development Bank
and the Export-Import Bank of China have invested about USD 244.2 billion globally
and USD 186.3 billion in BRI regions in energy between 2000 and 2018; approximately
three-quarters of this went to oil, coal and gas.
China can use more special funds to green opportunities, that would bring in positive
impact on green growth in the BRI countries. A study by World Resource Institute
estimated that just 25 per cent of BRI special funds would be equivalent to more than
USD 28 billion additional dollars for climate finance in BRI countries. This will make
China a major player for low carbon development in the BRI regions.
CENTRE FOR
POLICY DIALOGUE
Belt and Road Initiative & Bangladesh
14View entire presentation