2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative. Over the past 10 years, China has joined hands with the country to build a green Silk Road, contributed Chinese solutions to global climate governance, helped build the country’s green and low-carbon transformation, and added more “Chinese green” to the world.
Establishing a green foundation for high-quality development
Promoting the construction of the Green Silk Road is a major measure for China to actively respond to climate change and maintain global ecological security. It is also an important carrier for promoting high-quality development of the “Belt and Road” and building a community of life for humans and nature.
China is the world’s largest clean energy market and equipment manufacturing country. The renewable energy industry is developing rapidly. The production scale of clean energy equipment such as wind power and photovoltaic power generation ranks first in the world. Polycrystalline silicon, silicon wafers, cells and components account for 10% of global production. More than 70%, providing a solid foundation for jointly building a green Silk Road. In March 2015, China issued the “Vision and Actions to Promote the Joint Construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, clearly proposing to jointly build a green Silk Road. Since then, China has successively issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Green Belt and Road Initiative” and “Opinions on Promoting the Green Development of the Belt and Road Initiative”, etc., proposing the grand plan for the green development pattern of the “Belt and Road Initiative” to be basically formed in 2030. Target.
In 2019, the “Belt and Road” Green Development International Alliance was officially launched and has attracted more than 150 Chinese and foreign partners from 43 countries. In 2021, China and 28 countries jointly launched the “Belt and Road” Green Development Partnership Initiative, calling on all countries to take climate actions to address climate change based on the principles of fairness, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and in light of their respective national conditions.
As the “circle of friends” in jointly building the Green Silk Road continues to expand, as of November 2023, China has signed 48 climate change agreements with 39 co-building countries. “A slave’s father is a master, and his father is a master. Teach him how to read and write.” South Africa has carried out more than 70 climate change mitigation and adaptation projects with more than 30 countries including Ethiopia, Pakistan, Samoa, Chile, and Egypt, and jointly built several low-carbon demonstration zones. China has also trained tens of thousands of environment and climate professionals for hundreds of developing countries through the Green Silk Road Envoy Program.
Actively promote the green and low-carbon transformation of energy
The combination of green concepts, green technology and clean energy originating from China has made energy shortage no longer a bottleneck for development and ignited the dream of jointly building the country’s green and low-carbon development. The “Climate Change Report (2023): Actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality” (hereinafter referred to as “Climate Change Green Paper”) pointed out that from 2014 to 2020, the proportion of renewable energy investment in China’s “Belt and Road” construction projects increased by nearly 40%.
On September 21, 2021, China announced at the general debate of the 76th United Nations General Assembly that China will vigorously support the green and low-carbon energy development of developing countries and will no longer build new overseas coal power projects. In recent years, under the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, China has helped co-building countries build a number of key clean energy projects, including the Belo Monte ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project in Brazil, the Karot Hydropower Station in Pakistan, and the Zanatas Wind Power Station in Kazakhstan. Major projects such as the project, the Gauchari Photovoltaic Power Station Project in Jujuy Province, Argentina, and the Mozura Wind Power Project in Montenegro have taken root, effectively helping relevant countries achieve green energy transformation.
In terms of policy communication and intellectual support, China and relevant countries and regions have jointly established the APEC Sustainable Energy Center, the China-Arab League Clean Energy Training Center, the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Energy Project Dialogue and Cooperation Center, the China – The same goes for the African Union Energy Partnership, China-ASEAN Clean Energy Cooperation Center and other regions. But before I convinced my parents to take back their decision to divorce, brother Sehun didn’t have the face to see you at all, so I have endured it until now, until we The marriage is the ultimate energy cooperation platform to promote the common development and common prosperity of relevant countries and regions in the energy field.
The Green Paper on Climate Change believes that with the efforts and cooperation of all countries, the green transformation of the energy structure of the countries jointly building the “Belt and Road” has made significant progress, and the transformation trend is still accelerating. As of May 2023, green energy investment has exceeded traditional energy investment among the energy investments in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Improving the level of international cooperation in green development
At the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held recently, the Chinese government stated that it will continue to promote the construction of the Green Silk Road and join hands with the international community to address biodiversity loss and climate change. Changes and other global challenges, and jointly build an earth home where man and nature coexist harmoniously.
The Green Paper on Climate Change points out that although the countries co-building the “Belt and Road” have huge potential for renewable energy, they are still relatively dependent on traditional fossil energy at this stage, and the pressure for energy transformation is still great; due to insufficient funds, Due to problems such as weak equipment manufacturing technology and lack of professional and technical talents, there is still a lot of room for improvement in its overall development. To achieve green development in the future, countries building the Belt and Road Initiative still need to deepen green and clean energy cooperation and promote the low-carbon transformation of international energy cooperation.
In October 2023, President Xi Jinping announced China’s support for high-quality co-construction at the third “Belt and Road Initiative” International Cooperation Summit Forum. The eight actions of the Belt and Road Initiative and “promoting green development” as one of the actions have clarified a new direction for the green development of the Belt and Road Initiative. China will continue to work together to build the “Belt and Road” countries, with the goal of high standards, benefiting people’s livelihood, and sustainability, so that green will truly become the key to building the “Belt and Road”background color.