Advancing the Green Development of the Belt and Road Initiative: Harnessing Finance and Technology to Scale Up Low-Carbon Infrastructure, produced in collaboration with PwC China, was released by the World Economic Forum. According to the insight report, emerging and developing economies (EMDEs) face rising demand for energy and mobility as they grow, industrialise and urbanise. Today’s infrastructure investment decisions will lock in emissions trajectories for decades and could make or break the world’s ability to achieve the Paris Agreement objective of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C.
The report highlights low-carbon technologies, such as solar and wind power, battery storage and electric vehicles, that are technologically feasible and commercially viable. A surge in Belt and Road Initiative projects that deploy these technologies would be in line with China’s September 2021 pledge to support developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy and not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.