BRI has a green thumb vis-a-vis development

JIN DING/CHINA DAILY

Editor's note: At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping announced eight major steps to pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, with one focused on promoting green development. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Pan Yixuan. Excerpts follow:

Green-oriented innovationshould be promoted

President Xi's speech at the Belt and Road Forum shows that efforts are being made to improve the initiative through, for instance, achieving breakthroughs in technological innovation and increasing investment in green development.

For the initiative's sustainable development, more attention should be paid, among other things, to increasing production capacity and improving industrial facilities, because increased investment in green development will radiate far more widely and greatly to influence new industrialization and urbanization. And green-oriented innovation should be promoted, in order to balance economic growth, environmental protection and social justice.

Better protecting the environment and pursuing sustainable development can mitigate climate change. But the level of industrialization to be achieved and the ways to deal with economic and environmental problems differ from country to country. Ever since the advanced countries achieved industrialization, the tertiary industry has been playing an increasingly bigger role in their economic structure and growth.

However, the vast majority of the developing countries are yet to realize industrialization. Also, developed and developing countries pursue green development, following different standards, methods and measures to achieve different goals. This is to say there are different criteria, methods and measures for green technology, infrastructure, energy and transportation. There cannot be just one set of criteria, certainly not those dictated by the United States or the West. Therefore, the international community needs to hold more talks to explore more standards and methods, with every country having the right to adopt the development model that best suits their national conditions.

Given the rich experiences the developing nations have accumulated in fields such as social development, they should have more say in what kind of technology or standard should be used to promote green development. And the green action plan can be China's contribution to global development.

Liang Haoguang, executive director of the China Center for Modernization Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Clean energy crucial forhigh-quality development

One of the major steps President Xi proposed in his speech at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Wednesday is to promote green development, which is based on the experiences gathered through the course of the Belt and Road Initiative's development over the past decade and is a response to the doubts raised over the initiative's future.

Charting the course of the initiative's development will help improve its performance in the future, while attaching greater importance to green development is crucial for achieving sustainable development.

Special attention should be paid to the source and generation process of energy. For example, if new energy vehicles run on electricity generated by thermal power plants, can it be said they are using green energy? Or, will those vehicles be considered eco-friendly?

We are transitioning toward real green energy. New methods are being used to generate and store energy, including the use of large-capacity electricity storage equipment for wind power and solar power.

The way energy is generated and the form of energy being used reflect a country's social structure. The present world is built upon the exploits of the Industrial Revolution which was driven by fossil fuels. Through generation of green energy using advanced, eco-friendly methods, and building green infrastructure, a new socioeconomic structure can be built, which in turn can help mitigate the climate crisis.

The transformation of society through green development will facilitate high-quality development, something that the Belt and Road Initiative has been pursuing to achieve common development. Since China is a leader in the production and use of solar photovoltaic panels, solar power cooperation with other countries can propel the Belt and Road Initiative's development.

By increasing communication and promoting innovation in green technology, the Belt and Road Initiative will make greater contributions to global economic development, especially to less-developed countries' growth, helping them gradually narrow the gap with the developed ones.

Sun Xingjie, deputy director of, and a professor at, the Institute of International Studies, Jilin University

Green development neededto achieve modernization

Green is the color of the Belt and Road Initiative, and achieving sustainability one of its core goals. In his speech to the third Belt and Road Forum on Wednesday, President Xi emphasized the significance of green development, and proposed measures to realize green development. This shows China remains committed to deepening cooperation to realize high-quality Belt and Road development.

Given people's aspirations and goals today, intensifying the fight against climate change and achieving carbon neutrality, according to the Paris Agreement, have become an important part of the long-term development plan of many countries.

The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is expected to provide developing countries with green and low-carbon development solutions so they do not repeat the old development pattern of "pollution for development first, and treatment later". Incidentally, the developed countries used fossil fuel-powered development to realize industrialization and modernization.

But the Belt and Road Initiative not only resorts to eco-friendly development practices, but also urges other countries to play a creative role in building green infrastructure, promoting green energy and green transportation, and developing green finance.

China has been cooperating with many countries in the fields of solar power, wind power, hydropower and thermal energy. In fact, the proportion of renewable energy in the energy projects China is helping build or develop in other Belt and Road countries keeps increasing. And the advantages China enjoys in renewable energy production and technology means it can offer solutions to their energy problems and help them fight climate change.

China has also been promoting green development through programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, the Green Silk Road Envoys Program, and the Belt and Road South-South Cooperation Initiative on Climate Change. As such, China and other Belt and Road countries will explore novel ways to realize green development and ensure the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.

Xie Laihui, executive director of the Department of BRI Studies at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences