China’s green vision is actively benefiting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), driving immense growth in renewable energy across member countries worldwide.
Despite Trump’s “whimsical” trade and tariffs war, BRI investments continue to rise, reaffirming China’s policy of openness, transparency, economic globalization and international cooperation. China’s trading role with its BRI partners is deepening, achieving high-quality cooperation, jointly promoting development and securing a shared win-win future.
Additionally, the start of high-quality development among the BRI member countries has entered into a “new stage” stretching from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America with an ideal combination of “hard connectivity” of infrastructure to “soft connectivity” of rules and standards and “heart-to-heart connectivity” among the peoples. BRI achievements have benefited people in more than 150 countries and regions. Critical analysis reveals immense contribution of the BRI in all the member countries especially the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway carrying over 10 million passengers, China-Europe freight trains making more than 110,000 runs and the new “Chancay-Shanghai” land-sea corridor linking China and Latin America have become new icons of trans-regional connectivity, infrastructure development and socio-economic integration transforming countries, continents and enterprises around the globe.
In the case of green technologies and means of renewables, especially solar power stations built by Chinese companies in Africa, these have a combined installed capacity exceeding 1.5 gigawatt. It is a good omen that Luban Workshops and Juncao technology have helped countless households find a path to prosperity. It bodes well that the Financial Times report based on the study of Australia’s Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center in Beijing highlights the valuable role of Chinese companies in the diverse sectors of BRI, enduring “vitality” and potential of the BRI, which is increasingly serving as a catalyst in “enhancing” the local industrial ecosystem, particularly in the green industry sector. Hence, China’s direct investments in BRI partner countries have seen rapid growth during 2025.
According to the Financial Times, in terms of specific industries, Chinese companies have continued to invest in sectors such as traditional energy, while their contracts and investments in wind, solar and waste-to-energy projects in BRI partner countries have reached a record of nearly $10 billion. Moreover, in recent years, the BRI has increasingly aligned with the global trend toward green and low-carbon development. The shared effort to build a “Green Silk Road” makes sustainable development a ‘new frontier’ for international cooperation. It seems to be a “paradigm shift” creating broad opportunities for green investment. China has actively worked with all the member countries to establish platforms for green cooperation, jointly advancing green infrastructure, green finance and environmentally friendly investments.
It is encouraging that China always “pledges” to continue to support the BRI International Green Development Coalition, holds the BRI Green Innovation Conference and establishes dialogue and exchange mechanisms for the solar industry and a network of experts on green and low-carbon development. It also emphasized the implementation of the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road. According to the Qiushi Journal, the CPEC, a flagship BRI project, has incorporated significant renewable energy components, such as wind and solar power. These installations are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2 million tons annually. The “completion” of many green energy landmark projects under BRI framework, i.e. the Nam Mang 1 Hydropower Station in Laos generating an average of 225 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, supporting more than 100,000 local households, vividly reflects China’s constructive role in green transformation demonstrating the BRI’s growing role in promoting global green development through practical and impactful cooperation.
From green hydrogen to smart grids, China has made significant progress in advancing key clean energy industries by “capitalizing” on its vast industrial scale and ongoing technological advancements. Domestically, China is fostering the growth of its green economy, while internationally, it is extending investment and support to BRI partner countries. This international cooperation has facilitated the enhanced accessibility of clean energy technologies globally and reduced the costs associated with adopting green technologies. Through a series of investment projects, the “green economic dividend” generated by China’s technological advancements is being transformed into tangible cooperation through the BRI, driving local economic growth. The BRI is particularly “conducive” to global energy development and transformation, as it provides a rare and valuable platform for high-quality global energy development while offering highly effective avenues for countries worldwide, especially developing nations, to address electricity access issues and advance their green energy transitions.
Moreover, the BRI has created crucial conditions for the energy transitions of participating countries. The rapid advancement of power interconnection projects among China’s neighboring countries makes it convenient for the mutual exchange of regular cross-border electricity resources. Moreover, the investment and construction of new energy equipment have created technical conditions for countries to pursue low-carbon and green energy transitions. In summary, China has become “real champion” of green energy in the world and its mega project BRI is also “collaborating” with more than 100 countries and regions on green energy projects and launched a number of key projects, as well as some “small yet smart” projects that effectively address the accessibility and affordability of power supply in those areas. It is providing clean, safe and reliable energy supply solutions.
According to a report released by the World Bank on the BRI, the joint construction of the BRI will increase trade among participating countries by 4.1 percent. By 2030, the BRI is projected to generate $1.6 trillion in annual benefits for the global economy. Furthermore, the BRI has made new contributions to improving people’s livelihood in various countries. For instance, the Luban Workshops initiated in Tianjin now cover 28 BRI partner countries and have trained more than 60,000 skilled professionals for host countries. Additionally, through the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation-funded water resource protection project, China has implemented demonstration projects for rural safe water supply in BRI countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, providing clean drinking water to tens of thousands of rural villagers. It boasts strong resilience, vigorous vitality and broad development prospects.
Further development of the green BRI opens a “new window” of opportunity for CPEC Phase-II in the country. Thus, policy makers of Pakistan should seek professional “guidance” and investments from the Chinese counterparts to make investments in wind, solar, green hydrogen, lithium batteries, EVs, hybrid agriculture, water conservation, disaster management, weather assessment cooperation, anti-climate change collaboration, anti-desertification and above all use of digitalization and artificial intelligence in creating befitting equation between Nature and humanity. The writer suggests that policy makers of Pakistan should also mobilize and channelize surplus funds of the domestic banking industry promoting Green Financing combating increasing incidents of climate change. Formation of mini-green grids in all the housing societies must be strictly implemented. Building of inter-cities, inter-provincial Green Walls must be made mandatory for the security & safety of its people under CPEC Phase-II.
The writer submits that anomaly in domestic solarization may be thoroughly studied promoting win-win propositions for the state and society alike. In this regard, the “Chinese National Model of Green Energy” may be carefully useful. The Writer proposes that under the ongoing CPEC Phase-II, a green transport system including Rails, green ports and green productive channels should be inaugurated to mitigate increasing ratios of climate change in the country. Last but not least, the start of “Green Prevention of Glaciers” should be included in the CPEC Phase-II in the country.
