Twenty years ago, when I first joined the Environmental Defense Fund, or the EDF, it was mostly a US-based environmental organization focusing on domestic issues. A big transformation took place in 1999, during the then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji’s official visit to the United States, when the two countries partnered on "leveraging market mechanisms to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions" to help address China’s severe acid rain issues. As a representative sent by the US government, EDF was designated as the Chinese governmental partner to work on this bilateral project, which was to promote the lessons and practices from the US’ acid rain control in China. Such an experience left an everlasting impression on me. It demonstrated how the positive impact of a country’s environmental governance could transcend beyond its own boundaries; it also revealed how by leveraging these best practices elsewhere we can effectively help other countries with similar challenges to adopt optimal environmental measurements.

Twenty years later, China has made tremendous progress in governing wide-ranging environmental and climate issues, from the incorporation of strict rules into the Environmental Protection Law such as “impose a daily penalty", and the launch of a full blown battle against pollution, to the construction of the world's largest carbon emission trading scheme (ETS). These inspiring actions are testimony to China's determination in advancing its environmental and climate governance, which reflect China’s multi-fold environmental ambition to control air pollution, revert land desertification and cap greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, China continues to strike a balance between the need to reduce poverty, continue economic growth with the urge to protect the environment and address climate change. These are not problems unique to China, but a common challenge faced by many developing countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) route. China and countries along the BRI account for more than 60 percent of the total global emissions, with substantial environmental implication to global fisheries and other resources. Green development along the BRI meets with local needs, and more importantly, once successfully implemented, will have significant positive impact on the global environmental and climate governance and progress.

China has positioned “green development” as one of its five core development guiding principles with “ecological civilization” as a key responsibility. With the BRI’s inception, China has adopted “green” as the undertone for its construction. At the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that China shall pursue the new vision of green development and a way of life and work that is green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable. Efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in ecological and environmental protection and build a sound ecosystem to realize the goals set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

As the country that has initiated the BRI, China stands firm in its responsibility and mission in guarding the initiative’s green feature. To realize this ambition, China should follow these pathways:

First, China should establish an exchange platform or network focusing on environmental and climate cooperation among the Belt and Road countries. Establishing the platform is the prerequisite for carrying out in-depth multilateral environmental collaboration. The BRI, encompasses countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, with stakeholders from central and local governments, businesses and civil societies. A functioning exchange platform would allow stakeholders to identify and connect partners with common interests, while facilitating sharing of information, cutting-edge knowledge and best practices along the BRI. Participating countries can then utilize this platform to build up their in-house environmental protection capacities to advise local decision makers to pursue a low-carbon development path.

Second, China should foster environmental capacity building among the Belt and Road countries. Over the years, China and the Belt and Road countries have conducted numerous research and exchange projects in environmental law enforcement, desertification control, carbon markets, atmospheric quality management and environmental science studies, which yielded sound outcomes. Through well designed environmental and climate related trainings, seminars and field trips, China can continuously enhance experience and best practice sharing with BRI governments, enterprises, research institutions, and social organizations. Such interaction will take the BRI countries’ awareness and performance of the regional environmental and climate governance to the next level.

Third, China should launch on-the-ground cooperation projects in BRI countries in environmental protection and climate governance. Localization is the pathway to any successful application of imported best practices. Through these bilateral or multilateral projects, China and the Belt and Road countries can jointly explore customized environmental solutions that best align with local conditions, so the Chinese experiences can truly serve their purposes in advancing green development. Many neighboring Belt and Road countries happen to be bound by rich ecological resources along their borders and they tend to be in a fragile ecological state as a result of lagging economic circumstances and weak environmental governance. So, the BRI’s interlinking and multilateral nature can help improve such environmental integrity and biodiversity in those areas.

Fourth, China should actively champion and take the lead in exercising its green development vision along the BRI. In a marathon contest, there is always a “pacer” who is at the forefront guiding the runners to complete the game at a moderate speed. China can potentially become the "front-runner/pacer" to pioneer green development along the BRI. China’s green ideas and implementation could effectively inspire other countries and cultivate a ripple momentum in other BRI countries. For example, in the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting’s Declaration issued in 2014, the Chinese government proposed an initiative to develop regional cooperation in the green supply chain and introduced a series of policies at home to effectively substantiate the relevant work in China. A similar approach is replicable through the BRI, with China actively embracing other key global environmental and climate agenda, and its positive influence will help other BRI countries to pursue a similar route in green development.

Twenty years ago, the EDF brought the US environmental governance experience to China to help China counter its environmental challenges. Now, through the BRI, it’s time for China to bring these illuminating experiences and practices accumulated over the past 20 years to other countries, to improve global environmental governance and guide the world toward a green and sustainable future.

Jianyu Zhang is chief representative of Environmental Defense Fund Beijing Representative Office

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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