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Episode 138
"Greener than Ever"? The BRI turns 10!
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The Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) has reached the ripe old age of 10 this month. Those 10 years have seen a lot of change, including on topics like the relative focus on clean energy versus fossil fuels and the interest in and incentives for applying ESG criteria to BRI investments.
Today we are joined by frequent guest and longtime friend of the podcast, Professor Christoph Nedopil-Wang. This year he became the Director of Griffith Asia Institute and is also a Professor at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Previously, he was an Associate Professor and Director of the Green Finance and Development Center, at Fudan University. He previously worked in Beijing at the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF), as well as at GIZ.
Cheat sheet:
Q: Was the 1H 2023 really the greenest ever, as Reuters summarized?
A: Reuters focused on the energy sector, where change is most evident, though oil and gas investments are big and lumpy, so can't just look at 1H. "Small and beautiful" green investments becoming more common.)
Q: Is energy becoming greener just because fossils falling, but renewables not picking up as much?
A: Both declining coal share and growing renewables, but renewables need much stronger growth.
Q: Why is the state-owned sector declining and the private sector going up? Is that due to SOEs focusing on domestic investment to respond to the downturn?
A: Perhaps, but also because private firms are now much stronger, and battery-related giants investing in big projects.
Q: What about mining for battery materials, is there more investment in value-creating parts of that supply chain in Africa, or is it all being processed elsewhere?
A: Yes, but need to be cautious about the environmental impact of local processing and whether local firms or communities actually capture value.)
Q: What is the situation with Chinese basic ESG principles (disclosure, community involvement) being applied to the BRI, as opposed to just meeting minimum local standards?
A: Not so good, for the power sector case studies they looked at.
Further reading:
The Producer
播客制作人
Environment China is a bilingual podcast featuring conversations with advocates, entrepreneurs, and experts working in the sustainability field in China for both Chinese and international audiences. So far, we have released 138 episodes already. You can listen to them on Environment China's official website, BEN's WeChat Account, or Google/Apple/Spotify Podcast.
「环境中国」是北京能源网络在2017年成立的中英双语播客栏目，至今已发布138集。在每一期节目中，我们将邀请到中外环境和能源领域的研究学者、创新创业者以及行业专家与大家分享他们的独到见解和经历。您可在环境中国官网、BEN公众号、以及谷歌/苹果/Spotify播客收听到我们的节目。
