Dr Nitza-Makowska presented her research on Beijing's potential efforts to "green" Belt and Road Initiative

In the end of December, our research fellow Agnieszka Nitza-Makowska presented her research on China’s efforts to “green” Belt and Road Initiative at ISA-GSCIS 2023 conference. 

The presentation Does China Instrumentalise the 2030 Agenda to Green its Belt and Road Initiative? The case of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor analysed Beijing's efforts to "green" its grand connectivity project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China imbued the BRI with an environmental governance architecture to transform it into a climate-neutral and nature-positive "Green BRI". This presentation assessed the potential of the "Green BRI" to materialise on the ground by focusing on synergies between the BRI and the United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (2030 Agenda; SDGs).  

To test Beijing's discourse on the 2030 Agenda-BRI synergy, this presentation looked at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the BRI's pilot and most expensive component and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). Paradoxically, while the CPEC's energy infrastructure includes the majority of coal-based facilities and Pakistan's achievements in SDG 7 have decreased since the CPEC was established, Beijing declared to support Islamabad's "green" ambitions.  

At the roundtable, Can the Global South Mitigate Climate Change? The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility in the Practice of China, India and others, Dr Nitza-Makowska focused on China's environmental diplomacy exercised at the COPs (Conferences of the Parties). Specifically, she demonstrated how China expanded its (green) soft power reserves, especially among the Global South, by defending its rights to avoid legally binding obligations to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.