Report Launch: Decision-Making on Belt and Road Projects: What Role for Sustainability?

Description

Chinese overseas investment associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has predominantly flowed into fossil fuels and other forms of high-carbon infrastructure across the developing countries. While a growing number of voluntary standards and networks seek to "green" the BRI, it is not yet clear how these will influence the decisions and incentives of key actors in China and recipient countries developing BRI-related projects. A new report from the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at Johns Hopkins University, the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, and the ClimateWorks Foundation seeks to better understand how sustainability considerations do and do not enter into decision-making around BRI projects. The report is based on in-depth elite interviews with regulatory agencies, policy banks, NGOs, and state-owned enterprises in China and seeks to unpack BRI's decision-making processes by revealing divergent preferences, incentives, and bureaucratic capacity of various related actors. Policy recommendations on how to green the BRI are made based on these findings. This webinar will present the report's key findings and provide a forum to discuss their implications with key stakeholders.

Presenters:

• Chuyu Liu, postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
• Thomas Hale, associate professor of global public policy and director for China engagement at the University of Oxford Blavatnik School of Government
• Johannes Urpelainen, professor of energy, resources, and environment and founding director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies