2022 Year in Review

The BRI has supported large projects including ports, roads, railways, power
plants, telecommunications networks and airports, but since 2019, lending has
been in decline. China has been putting greater emphasis on “high quality
investment”, including green finance. It is important to note that China is having
trouble financing all the loans, resulting in unfinished projects such as the
railroad connecting the port of Mombasa to Uganda. Nevertheless, the BRI still
remains the largest infrastructure programme in the world since the US Marshall
Plan, and Morgan Stanley estimated that the total investment could be close to
US$1.3 trillion by 2027. This has also sparked lots of controversy around the
world with environmental protests and other states being worried that China is
using the BRI as a foreign policy tool, with many worrying about China debttrapping
developing countries.
ENVIRONMENTAL REPERCUSSIONS OF THE BRI
Various studies have already been conducted on the environmental impacts of
the BRI, proving that this is a pertinent issue that deserves our attention. Many
issues have been identified and there are simply too many to enumerate here,
so a selection of the most pressing issues has been made.
1
The
P A G E 7 7
first issue is not that surprising. The
BRI entails large-scale projects which
require a lot of energy and a lot of
material, resulting in skyrocketing rates
of pollution and emissions. A study
conducted by the International Energy
Agency in 2016 concluded that the CO2-
emission in BRI-countries had increased
by 5% due to the maintenance and
operation of these projects and related
industries. Between 2001 and 2016,
China has placed 240 coal power plants
in 65 BRI countries. In addition,
increased tourism rates from China to
the BRI countries also account for a
significant share of transportation and
related emissions.
P H O T O : K O L A R I O O N
U N S P L A S H