Zhang Chenggang: Study on the Environmental Risk Assessment and Governance Policies of Countries along the "Belt and Road"
Study on the Environmental Risk Assessment and Governance Policies of Countries along the "Belt and Road"
China Soft Science, 2022 Issue 4
[Abstract]
As COVID-19 swept across the world in 2020, the new development dynamic that prioritizes internal economic flows and features positive interplay between internal and external economic flows has pushed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) into a new development stage. Due to the impact of the pandemic, countries have attached great importance to the protection of the natural environment and sustainable development. The BRI, as a platform for international cooperation and exchanges, should rather pay attention to the identification and governance of environmental risks. This paper constructs an environmental risk evaluation index system, and conducts an empirical analysis of the environmental risks in 63 sample countries along the six economic corridors under the BRI by using factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results show that: (1) energy dependence, environmental friendliness, ecological sustainability, audience vulnerability and energy efficiency are factors influencing environmental risks; (2) environmental risks in countries along the "Belt and Road" can be divided into five types, such as energy surplus, resource scarcity, environmental unsustainability, environmental protection, and extensive environmental management; (3) the environmental risks vary from corridor to corridor. Corridor-specific environmental governance strategies should be developed for different types of environmental risks to make economic investments and policies more targeted. Future research should deal with the types of environmental risks from both global and regional perspectives, and make a contribution on China's part to the realization of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
