The China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) builds international platforms for China’s clean energy industry to go global, and will help reshape the global clean energy landscape using China’s strengths, said Cui Shoujun, researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at the Renmin University of China, writing for news portal haiwainet.cn.
China has gained a significant edge in product manufacturing and project construction after over 10 years of high-paced development and accumulation of technologies. Countries along the Belt and Road are mostly developing countries whose economic development is hampered by insufficient energy infrastructure, among others. With the deepening of the BRI, China will export more of its clean energy technologies, driving host countries’ energy infrastructure development.
The BRI aims to advance and strengthen related countries’ cooperation in clean energy technologies and industry under the principle of mutual benefit. Thus, China’s strengths can be applied to drive regional green energy transformation and improve global energy governance, according to Cui.
The BRI also boosts global energy connectivity, Cui said. According to the World Energy Council, of the world’s 1.2 billion population still without access to power, most live in developing countries along the routes. In 2015, China proposed a “global energy network” as one facet of the BRI. Once complete, the network will see related countries convert their energy sources into power and be able to transmit them over long distances, greatly improving the efficiency and economic benefits of energy.
Old Version
