Internationalisation of Chinese green buildings: Review and prospect

Abstract

<p indent="0mm">The internationalisation of Chinese green buildings is still in its early stages, with a scarcity of relevant research, academic outcomes and engineering practices. This paper aims to review and summarise the situation in China’s green building sector, propose the topic of “internationalisation of Chinese green buildings”, investigate its definition, sort out its causes, analyse the significance and inevitability, and provide theoretical foundations and recommendations for future development. Following a review, the exploration of the internationalisation of China’s green buildings has yielded certain results, and the conditions are favourable. There have been four overseas projects for certification and implementation of Chinese green building standards. China’s Green Building standards are world-leading. Research institutions collaborate extensively with foreign countries and export Chinese solutions. The domestic business environment is being optimised for green buildings, resulting in a booming local market. Moreover, the internationalisation work of China’s construction industry in the 13th Five-Year Summary concludes that international science and technology cooperation has been steadily promoted, the ‘Belt and Road’ science and technology innovation cooperation has been effective, and the internationalisation of China’s engineering construction standards has been promoted. The maturity of the conditions for China’s green building industry to expand internationally includes the perfection of the policy environment, the advantages of industrial scale, and the completion of domestic goals. It also includes the industry’s predicament and the inevitability of internationalisation. The first reason is that domestic opportunities have diminished, and challenges have increased. The second reason is a decrease in domestic real estate market demand. The third reason is the depletion of the supply-side technology and innovation model. The world’s green building market is large in scale and high in growth rate. China’s engineering enterprises can take advantage of the massive radiation effect of the “Belt and Road” initiative to enter the market covered, and these regions generally have low urbanisation rates and high construction potential. The global efforts to improve human settlements and mitigate climate change are also favourable factors. After discussion, internationalisation appears to be the most promising opportunity for the future of China’s construction industry, both in high-quality development and business growth. The internationalisation model of the Chinese green building industry is the sum of the globalisation of domestic green building companies and the greening of Chinese construction and engineering companies that are already overseas. It will emerge from a development model with Chinese characteristics via a model that combines local and overseas. The path to the internationalisation of Chinese green buildings may be as follows: Combining domestic and overseas engineering and technical strength, relying on the massive domestic market to form a huge industrial scale and robust productivity, undertaking the “Belt and Road” countries’ urbanisation needs, and then promoting the development of international standards through the “go out and bring in” formation of multilateralism transnational cooperation, and ultimately driving the entire industry chain.