July 17, 2024

Abstract: The blue carbon reservoir plays a unique role in addressing climate change and holds significant importance for China’s advancement in the “dual carbon” initiative. The mechanisms, carbon reduction potential, and potential economic value of blue carbon align with the goals of the Green Silk Road initiative. China’s conceptual frameworks, strategies and practices provide strong impetus for enhancing international cooperation and supporting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Looking ahead, integrating blue carbon into the focal points of international cooperation will contribute China’s wisdom and solutions to global sustainable development.

RESPONDING TO CLIMATE change and achieving sustainable developmentare pressing tasks that the international community needs to deal with. China has consistently been proactive in advancing international cooperation invarious domains addressing climate change. The 19th National Congress ofthe Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed initiatives such as “activelyand prudently promoting peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality” and“actively participating in global governance to address climate change”. These major decisions were made by the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping atits core to strategically coordinate both domestic and international priorities. In2020, China announced its new targets for national contributions. China aims topeak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and strive for carbon neutrality by2060. By 2030, China plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of grossdomestic product by over 65% compared to 2005 levels. Non-fossil energy willaccount for approximately 25% of primary energy consumption. Additionally,China aims to increase forest stock by six billion cubic metres compared to 2005 levels and achieve a total installed capacity of over 1.2 billion kilowatts for wind and solar power generation.

Since the release of the guiding opinions on promoting the Green Belt and Roadconstruction in 2017, the Green Silk Road, as China’s approach to addressingglobal sustainable development and jointly tackling climate change, has seen increasingly refined top-level institutional designs and accelerated progress inpragmatic cooperation projects. This has propelled the high-quality development of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), thus yielding tangible resultsand garnering broad consensus among participating nations and stakeholders.

In the face of new challenges in global climate governance, there is a growing demand for green and low-carbon development among participating countries andregions, necessitating the expansion of the scope and collaboration areas within the construction of the Green Silk Road. Currently, international cooperation inblue carbon is progressively transitioning from scientific research to the realmof international climate governance. Deepening international collaboration in blue carbon represents a pragmatic measure to enhance the collective capacityof countries and regions to address climate change. It holds the potential to offernew impetus for the future construction of the Green Silk Road.

WANG Sheng is President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, China.

Read more: "Strengthening International Cooperation on Blue Carbon under the Green Silk Road Initiative: China’s Practical Pathways,"East Asian Policy, Vol. 16, No. 02, pp. 96-109 (2024), https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/epdf/10.1142/S1793930524000157.