Riding the Green Silk Road
Marco Lambertini, director general of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International
This is not the first time President Xi has mentioned the importance of green development, which reflects a strong understanding of the value of a healthy development and healthy society. This is very welcome. He has set the tone that the Belt and Road Initiative should not just promote development, but also promote sustainable development.
The Belt and Road Initiative has two key dimensions. One is a new form of collaboration across countries, not to be competitive but for win-win situations. The other is sustainable development: to develop in an equitable way so that everybody benefits, without hurting the environment.
By committing to changing modes of development, President Xi is driving the green revolution in China. The country is now the global leader in renewable energy and the single most important market.
The Initiative is generating enormous opportunities to stimulate governments in emerging economies to completely escape the damage seen in the past few decades. Chinese companies should apply the tactics they developed to make the Chinese economy greener to the countries along the Belt and Road, to help them avoid the pains that Europe, the United States and China once endured.