Global Climate Action Progress and Prospects: The Meeting on Green and Low-Carbon Transition Pathways under BRI Held in Beijing

The highly anticipated COP29 conference has officially concluded. After more than 30 hours of extended discussions, the conference reached a balanced package of outcomes known as the "Baku Climate Solidarity Pact," notably setting climate finance targets and related arrangements for post-2025. However, despite achieving significant consensus, many specific implementation details and subsequent cooperation mechanisms remain unclear.

On November 25, the day after the conference's conclusion, the "Belt and Road" Green Low-Carbon Transformation Implementation Path Exchange Meeting was held in Beijing, hosted by the "Belt and Road" Green Development International Coalition (BRIGC) and supported by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The meeting, themed "Progress and Prospects of Global Climate Action," focused on discussions surrounding the implementation of COP29-related actions, the current state and future prospects of international climate finance, China's contributions, and the reshaping of energy industry chains in a changing global landscape, aiming to provide insights for accelerating green investment and financing cooperation along the BRI. 

Representatives from institutions including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's Environmental Planning Institute, the Hydropower and Water Conservancy Planning and Design General Institute, CICC Research, Tsinghua University's Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Central University of Finance and Economics' International Institute of Green Finance, China Automotive Carbon (Beijing) Digital Technology Center Co., Ltd., and the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization participated in the meeting. Cui Dandan, Secretary-General of the BRIGC, attended the meeting and delivered the opening remarks. The meeting was co-chaired by Miao Hong, Director of the Sustainable Transition Center of WRI China, and Zhang Jianyu, Chief Development Officer of the BRIGC.

Miao Hong, Director of the Sustainable Transition Center of WRI China | Source: BRIGC

In her opening remarks, Cui Dandan stated that China has provided support to developing countries through South-South cooperation, playing a leading role as a responsible major country in addressing climate change. According to incomplete statistics, since 2016, China has mobilized and provided over 177 billion yuan in project funding, becoming a global leader in climate finance. The construction of a green "Belt and Road" has provided a platform for environmental and climate cooperation, with various initiatives benefiting the "Global South." To further promote global green transformation, China should continue to strengthen policy communication, deepen green energy cooperation, innovate cooperation mechanisms, implement more "small and beautiful" demonstration projects, and share the fruits of the green "Belt and Road."

Miao Hong mentioned during the hosting segment that China has become a significant provider of global climate finance and is an indispensable country in global efforts to address climate change. The current funding gap for addressing climate change is substantial. Emerging market countries, including China, have gradually become major international investors in green infrastructure and sustainable trade, actively promoting global progress in addressing climate change. China is expected to continue deepening industrial investment cooperation with other developing countries in areas such as solar energy, wind energy, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other green development sectors, setting an example for South-South climate cooperation and contributing to global green low-carbon sustainable development.

Current State, Prospects, and China's Contributions in International Climate Finance

Chen Peng, Chief Expert at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's Environmental Planning Institute, Wang Yan, Research Analyst at the World Resources Institute, Wang Xun, Researcher at the International Institute of Green Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Sun Ruoshuai, Research Assistant at Tsinghua University's Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, shared their insights on China's key progress and innovative practices in climate investment and financing, the scale and mechanisms of international climate investment and financing provided and mobilized by China under the framework of South-South cooperation, and the progress and future prospects of the New Collective Quantified Climate Finance Goal (NCQG) negotiations.

Left to right: Chen Peng, Wang Yan, Wang Xun, Sun Ruoshuai | Source: BRIGC

Experts believe that the climate finance target agreed upon at COP29 fell short of developing countries' expectations, and the implementation of the target is fraught with uncertainty. At the same time, China has demonstrated its responsible major country role through concrete actions: on the one hand, China actively promotes the development of domestic climate investment and financing, leveraging the combined power of fiscal funds and financial markets, continuously improving green finance, particularly standards related to transition finance, innovating green credit products linked to carbon footprints, and steadily increasing funding support for addressing climate change; on the other hand, China has become a major provider of global climate finance. Between 2013 and 2018, China's annual climate finance provision to other developing countries through bilateral and multilateral channels was comparable in scale to the fifth-ranked developed country (the United Kingdom). In the future, China will continue to leverage South-South cooperation and "Belt and Road" construction. While accelerating its own green development and transformation, China will uphold the concept of a shared future for humanity, leverage its advantages in renewable energy technology and its economies of scale, and contribute even greater strength to the realization of global climate finance goals.

Challenges, Opportunities, and Responses in Reshaping Global Industry Chains

Huo Jingying, Assistant Director of the International Business Department of the Hydropower and Water Conservancy Planning and Design General Institute, Chen Ji, Executive General Manager of CICC Research, Sun Xin, Chief Expert of China Automotive Carbon (Beijing) Digital Technology Center Co., Ltd., and Zhang Rui, Researcher at the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization, discussed the impact and responses to the reshaping of global energy industry chains in the context of the global "super election year," especially the US election, and the implementation path for achieving the global triple renewable energy goal.

Left to right: Huo Jingying, Chen Ji, Sun Xin, Zhang Rui | Source: BRIGC

Experts pointed out that, under the new context, China's "new three items" - represented by new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products - face challenges such as squeezed development space, high trade barriers, and threats to supply chain security in the process of "going global," while simultaneously welcoming opportunities for increased policy support for renewable energy from various countries and localized supply chain development. In particular, green product trade cooperation between China and the US may face more limitations, but green industry cooperation potential between China and the EU is considerable. In the future, it is essential to continue tracking and researching trade barrier and green product tariff response measures, actively expanding win-win industrial cooperation space, promoting mutual recognition of green investment standards, exploring third-party cooperation, perfecting the global layout of the new energy industry chain, and using energy transformation as a lever to promote the implementation of climate change goals.