RUC NADS Launched Report on the Green Development Index for the Belt and Road Initiative

On November 9, 2018, the Green Development Index for the Belt and Road Initiative Report was launched in Renmin University of China. As one of the series of BRI green development events jointly held by RUC and Columbia University, this report launch conference was organized by National Academy of Development and Strategy (NADS) of RUC. Scholars and experts from Renmin University of China, Tsinghua University, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, International Cooperation Center of National Development and Reform Commission, North China Electric Power University, Columbia University, National University of Singapore gathered together at the conference to explore the means of promoting BRI green development and future cooperation with countries along the route.

Wang Ke, team leader of BRI green development index (GDI) research group, Deputy Director of NADS BRI Research Center, and associate professor of School of Environment & Natural Resources, introduced the background and significance of the research. BRI countries depend on fossil fuel for economic growth, at the same time, they have to reduce the negative effects of economic development on the fragile ecological environment. This research aims to build a comprehensive indicator system to assess the level of green development for BRI countries, providing new findings to BRI-related research. The research helps identify key areas and technologies that contribute to the level of green development in BRI countries, thus can offer practical policy recommendations for BRI countries to promote green development.

Dong Changgui, leader of technical team, research fellow of NADS, and PhD of School of Public Administration and Policy, introduced the research method and process in detail. Green development index consists of three major categories: natural assets, green technologies and development outcomes. Natural assets and development outcomes assess the initial endowment and final results of green development, while green technologies assess the middle process of transforming natural resources into development performance. Under the framework, GDI system with overall 20 specific indicators was supported by a database covering 98 counties and a time span from 2006 to 2015. The report concluded that the application of green technologies was the weakness of BRI green development, but also a key area of great potential. It’s of great significance to strengthen technical cooperation with BRI countries and to speed up the application of green technique and products.

Professor David Sandalow, former US Deputy Secretary of Energy, Principal Researcher of Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, chaired the roundtable discussions. He congratulated the research group for their achievements, and stressed that the BRI green development index are of great value as it provides a platform for all parties to have in-depth discussion about the status, characteristic, potential and future demand of BRI countries. He offered recommendations on how to understand and apply the research outcomes, emphasizing that we should pay more attention to the sub-indexes and specific indicators than the final result. What really matter are the key factors as we can propose targeted policies and suggestions to promote green development of BRI projects.

Xu Qinhua, chief expert of the research group, Vice-president of NADS, Director of CIEESS, and professor of School of International Studies, said that BRI green development index report is the third work of RUC NADS BRI research team following the first Political Risk Index for BRI Energy Investment and the second Investment-friendly Index for BRI. This research provided a unique perspective of focusing on the application of green technologies in promoting green development, which will be of great value for government, enterprises and investors.

Andrews-Speed Philip, professor of National University of Singapore, reviewed the changes of BRI concept connotation. He pointed out that fossil fuel still accounts for a large proportion in BRI projects, and there are three issues need to be addressed next by researchers: who is the key decision-making body of the project? Why the limitations on green development aren’t strict? And how to solve those two problems?

Zhu Xiao, professor of Law School, Deputy Director and Secretary General of Environmental Resources Judicial Theory Research Base of Supreme People’s Court, spoke highly of the research group as they overcame many obstacles of data accessibility and information uncertainty to complete the research. Deeply impressed, professor Zhu also provided some practical suggestions, including to add some flexible indicators of law and policy, and weight sensitivity analysis to the indicator system.

In the following Q&A session, Qi Kai, researcher of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, and other guests answered questions of indicator supplement, categories, data standardization, discussing about possible perspectives and issues for future research.

By putting green development and BRI together, BRI Green Development has great significance for the successful implementation of BRI and the fulfillment of 2030 global sustainable development goals as well as the building of a community with shared future for mankind. However, in practice, without a systematic assessment of the status, potential and objectives of BRI green development, it’s hardly possible to provide targeted policy recommendations.

To this end, RUC set up a multidisciplinary research group of BRI green development index by pooling experts of international studies, public administration, energy management, environment and Climate Change Economics. Professor Xu Qinhua, Vice-president of NADS, is the chief expert of group, Wang Ke, Deputy Director of NADS BRI Research Center, and associate professor of School of Environment & Natural Resources, is the team leader of group, Dong Changgui, research fellow of NADS, and associate professor of School of Public Administration and Policy, is leader of technical team, and Gong Yazhen, associate professor of School of Environment & Natural Resources, is the technical adviser.

Based on the statistic data released by such authoritative institutions as UN, World Bank and International Energy Agency, our group designed a green development index with 20 specific indicators to assess the level of green development for BRI countries. Judging from three major categories of natural assets, green technologies and development outcomes, the research seeks gaps of green development between BRI countries and reasons behind those gaps, at the same time, identifies key areas and technologies that contribute to the level of green development in BRI countries. The research also analyzes the role and position of China in promoting BRI green development, helping point out the way forward for BRI countries to cooperate in promoting green development.

The research group have a systematic analysis of the BRI countries’ green development status, changing trend over the past decade and key factors driving up the index growth by using the GDI indicators. Comparing the green development status between BRI countries and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, we find that the overall level of green development in BRI countries has improved significantly over the past decade, but there is still a clear gap compared with OECD countries. Besides, the performance of green development varies significantly from one country to another, so targeted cooperation with specific nation and regions shall be emphasized in the future. The application of green technologies was both the weakness of BRI green development and the key area of great potential. It’s of great significance to strengthen technical cooperation with BRI countries and to speed up the application of green technique and products.

According to figures released by the research conclusion, in 2015, China ranks third among all BRI countries, which is close to the average level of OECD countries in 2006. The green technologies index score of China is 71.1, which is the highest among BRI countries. The significant improvement of China's GDI is closely related to the great efforts China has made in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy utilization in recent years. The significant improvements made by China indicates that China as the biggest developing country is creatively seeking new development path of sustainable and green development that is suitable for the situation of development countries. With huge potential cooperation ahead, China can provide world-class green technologies, technology know-how and successful policy experiences to BRI countries.