Can China green the Belt and Road?

(China Daily, Beijing, 9 August 2021) The Chinese government issued a policy on July 16 encouraging Chinese businesses to integrate green development through overseas investment and cooperation. The document, titled "Green Development Guidelines for Overseas Investment and Cooperation", was jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The guidelines recommend that Chinese businesses support investments in clean energy and also cover trade, by requiring companies to speed up integration with the global green supply chain, carry out green procurement and purchase environmentally friendly products and services. The guidelines are specifically addressed to some of the most important financial institutions: the China Development Bank, China Import-Export Bank and Sinosure, China's export credit agency. In June this year, the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, ClientEarth and the Beijing Institute of Finance and Sustainability conducted a two-day workshop on environmental and climate risk mitigation with the largest financial institutions in the Belt and Road Initiative. Although the process is not without difficulties, these institutions are developing key policies, such as categorization of projects based on environmental risks, requirements for environmental standards, impact assessments, third-party evaluations, information disclosure and public participation, grievance mechanisms, and even potential fossil fuel exclusion policies.