Key findings Download the pdf BRI finance and investments continued to drop in the first half of 2021 to US$19.3 billion (compared to US$27.5 billion in the first half of 2020);No coal projects received financing or investments in the first half of 2021;Green energy finance and investments in H1 2021 dropped by 90%…
On July 16, 2021, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of China issued the “Green Development Guidelines for Foreign Investment and Cooperation” (hereinafter referred to as the 2021 Green Guidelines). The Guidelines focus on both investment and trade. With MOFCOM being responsible for regulating Chinese…
On June 23, 2021, during a virtual conference, political leaders of 29 partner countries of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) launched the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on Green Development (“BRI Green Partnership”). Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister WANG Yi presided over the conference during the Asia and…
Highlights Download pdf Between 2014 and 2020, about USD160 billion of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants were being planned or announced outside of China;More than USD65 billion of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants have been either shelved, mothballed or cancelled since 2014, with more projects seeing delays in construction;In 2019 and 2020,…
1. Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has brought extreme stress to the global economy. Governments around the world are trying solutions to tackle the economic crisis through various fiscal, monetary, and related stimulus packages. Policymakers are struggling to balance their stimulus between the immediate “rescue” phase and the longer-term “recovery” phase:…
China announced coal phase-out in Bangladesh In February 2021, China’s embassy in Bangladesh sent a letter to the local Ministry of Finance stating that “the Chinese side shall no longer consider projects with high pollution and high energy consumption, such as coal mining [and] coal-fired power stations”. Why did China…
On March 5 during the “Two Sessions”, China introduced its 14th five-year plan for 2021 to 2025, as well as the Government Work Plan. In it, China vows to focus on “green development”, to uphold the “30-60” promise of Xi Jinping for China to try to peak carbon emissions before…
On February 22, 2021, China’s State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low-Carbon Circular Development Economic System”. Published by the highest Chinese governing body only few weeks before the start of the “Two Sessions”- the annual plenary sessions of the national…
On February 2, 2021, the British government published a review of “The Economics of Biodiversity” by academic Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta. In it, the authors point out the “collective failure” of humanity to preserve nature, due to a “widespread and deeply rooted institutional failure”. Accordingly, Dasgupta calls for a transformative…
Highlights Download pdf The outbreak of COVID-19 has accelerated many debt issues in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. In our previous brief on the debt issue in 52 selected BRI countries, we analyzed both the reasons for the pressing debt sustainability issues and the countries that are particularly vulnerable…
