Citizens of countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, strongly prefer clean energy over the coal projects that have become Beijing’s calling card, a new survey shows.
The findings, from a multi-country survey, commissioned by environmental group E3G, were published ahead of an international forum hosted in Beijing for leaders of BRI countries. The survey is the first of its kind to gauge public opinion of foreign investment in energy in these countries.
“This polling provides clear evidence that the citizens of the BRI countries prefer clean energy investment over coal,” said Nick Mabey, chief executive of E3G. “China should now work with governments, business and investors at the upcoming Belt and Road Forum to make sure these demands are met.”
Solar over coal
Coal projects accounted for up to 42 per cent of China’s overseas investment in 2018, according to the China Global Energy Finance database. This makes China the world’s biggest investor in coal power development overseas, which threatens to scupper international climate goals.
According to the survey, the majority of respondents selected renewable energy sources when asked which type of energy they felt their country should invest in to best support its long-term development, ranging from 61 per cent in Pakistan to 89 per cent in Vietnam.
Solar power was the most favored by the respondents, receiving the highest share of positive responses of all energy options in the six countries. At the other end of the spectrum, coal was the least favored, with the majority of respondents feeling it should be the lowest priority, ranked even lower than nuclear in four of the six countries.
The respondents tended to associate foreign investment in coal projects with increased pollution and climate change. Some respondents also associated coal with corruption.
Conversely, they mostly linked foreign investment in wind and solar power with long-term economic development and job creation, on top of climate change mitigation and decreased air and water pollution.
Asked about their general feelings toward foreign investments in energy, more than 85 per cent of those surveyed said they favored investments in renewable projects, while less than a third said they favored putting that money into coal.
Emphasis on ‘green’
Those findings should serve as a wake-up call for the Chinese government, said Adhityani Putri, director of the Jakarta-based Center for Energy Research Asia (CERA).
“There’s a much more positive perception given to foreign entities if they invest in renewable projects,” she told reporters in Jakarta. “We’re hoping that’s what China is striving for as well because its government has stated they wanted to build a more positive and green reputation. They said they wanted to make the BRI greener.”
The various projects under the BRI — through which China is investing in infrastructure spanning the breadth of Asia, through Africa and up to Europe — have frequently been criticized for their environmental impact.
In Indonesia, this includes a high-speed rail line that the government in Jakarta has now shelved due to a lack of proper environmental impact studies and conflicts with local zoning plans. State-owned Bank of China and Sinohydro have also been roundly criticized for a massive hydropower dam project in Sumatra that threatens the only known habitat of the world’s rarest great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan.
Amid these and other concerns, China has promised greener and more sustainable projects. During the first Belt and Road summit, in 2017, President Xi Jinping proposed establishing “an international coalition for green development,” supporting initiatives to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, and boosting science cooperation.
A draft communiqué of the second Belt and Road Summit, running from April 25 to 27, states that the 37 world leaders expected to attend will agree to project financing that respects global debt goals and promotes green growth. The word “green” appears in the draft seven times; it wasn’t mentioned at all in the official communiqué from two years ago.
“We underline the importance of promoting green development,” the draft reads. “We encourage the development of green finance including the issuance of green bonds as well as development of green technology.”
But activists say they’re concerned that the use of the word amounts to nothing more than lip service, and that China will continue investing heavily in coal and other projects that don’t merit a “green” label.
Source: Eco-Business