The Impacts of Trade Facilitation and Restrictions on Chinese Exports: Evidence from Countries in China's Belt and Road Initiative

Global economic structure transition boosts PM2.5-related human health impact in Belt and Road Initiative

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the role of debt sustainability in achieving sustainable development. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an international cooperation effort that is endorsed by over 150 countries and organizations. Given the alignment between BRI development goals and the SDGs, the issue of debt sustainability in BRI countries warrants attention. While existing studies focus on sovereign risk in debt sustainability, there is a lack of emphasis on currency risk, indicating a need for further investigation to mitigate risks and comprehensively evaluate debt stability. Using data from 142 countries, this study examines currency risk reduction in BRI countries by assessing currency competitiveness. We find that the US dollar (USD) is the most competitive currency among BRI countries, followed by the Euro (EUR), Chinese yuan (CNY), sterling pound (GBP), and Japanese yen (JPY). The USD maintains its competitive edge over time, making it the preferred choice, with the EUR as a less optimal option and the CNY showing potential. Geographically, the EUR's close ties with BRI countries lend it prominence, followed by the USD, with the CNY gaining traction. GBP and JPY are considered conservative choices. Recommendations for currency selection vary based on countries' competitiveness, bilateral relationships, and development status.

Evaluating the impact and heterogeneity of China's OFDI on total-factor carbon emission performance in Belt and Road Initiative countries

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a global development strategy, representing great potentials for multilateral trade cooperation and economic growth in Asia, Europe and Africa. The trade volume of commodities along the BRI countries booms in the last few years. The commodities trade attracts extensive attention worldwide, but the waste and scrap (WaS) trade received little attention. To fill this gap, this study reviews the dynamic evolution of the WaS trade network and evaluates the potential WaS trade risks in the BRI countries from three real world scenarios. First, this study constructs the WaS trade networks among the BRI countries from 1989 to 2018. Second, the synopsis of the WaS trade network is reviewed. Third, the shock models are built to analyze the impact of shocks in three scenarios on the stability of trade cooperation among the BRI countries. Finally, the policy implications are provided to promote the WaS trade collaboration among the BRI countries. This study is valuable because it is the first time to identify the WaS trade risk among the BRI countries. It will support policy-makers to build an effective collaboration mechanism to alleviate resource shortage and tackle the global WaS crisis.

How does income inequality affect energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from 33 Belt and Road Initiative countries

Non-technical summary The research paper studies business sophistication, tax revenue policies, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance across 105 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries spanning from 2013 to 2021. Key insights from the study underscore a positive association between business sophistication and ESG performance. This suggests that organizations leveraging advanced knowledge and innovation are better positioned to implement effective ESG strategies. Moreover, higher tax revenue is linked to better ESG, underlining a commitment to sustainability within the business landscape. Notably, Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) emerges as a pivotal catalyst in augmenting ESG performance, particularly when integrated with business sophistication and tax revenue mechanisms. Technical summary This study examines the relationship between business sophistication, tax revenue policies, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance in 105 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries from 2013 to 2021, focusing on the moderating role of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT). Using advanced econometric methods like Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), and fixed-effect regression, the research also considers factors such as microfinance institutions, commercial bank financing, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal a significant positive link between business sophistication and ESG performance, indicating that companies with advanced knowledge and innovation are more likely to implement successful ESG policies. Higher tax revenue is also positively correlated with ESG improvements, reflecting support for sustainability. ICT is crucial in enhancing ESG performance, especially when combined with business sophistication and tax revenue. Microfinance and commercial banking are vital in promoting ESG practices in BRI countries. Despite a temporary decline in ESG performance due to COVID-19, the study predicts a post-pandemic resurgence, emphasizing the need to foster an innovation culture for sustainable development. Social media summary There is a positive association between business sophistication, tax revenues, microfinance, ICT, and commercial banking, which are key drivers of better ESG performance in BRI countries.

Since the official launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, China and the BRI countries have been working for the implementation of certain environmental measures to make the BRI project green and clean. For this purpose, China and the BRI countries have planned to implement certain environmental measures. Although China can efficiently implement these measures, most of the BRI countries face technological deficiencies and lack of proper environmental plannings. To tackle these deficiencies, the BRI countries can import environmental technology from China. Moreover, they can communicate their environmental protection policies with China for better policy guidance. The current study, therefore, aims to examine whether the BRI countries’ import of environmental technology from China can reduce carbon emissions in these countries. Moreover, it also examines that whether these countries should follow the environmental policy and the import policy of China or they should follow the six European countries (EU-6) with minimum carbon emissions intensity. This study considers a sample of 88 selected BRI countries (BRI-88) for the period 2001–2019. The results obtained with β convergence (based on the panel quantile regression model) suggest that not all the BRI countries but only the BRI countries with relatively higher carbon emissions intensity can significantly reduce their average carbon emissions intensity by importing environmental technology from China. Moreover, BRI countries can follow the environmental policy of China which is more feasible for them. However, regarding the environmental goods import policy, BRI countries can follow both China and the EU-6.

Association of typhoid fever with floods under climate variability in 82 Belt and Road Initiative countries (2000-2021): A mixed-effects model and implications for water and sanitation infrastructure.

Investment and construction of power infrastructure are directly related to the achievement of sustainable development goals. China's trade and investment with BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) countries have maintained growth trend. The development and construction of these investment projects certainly have impacts on the economic development mode and sustainable development goals of the countries. On collecting the basic information of the renewable energy investment projects, this paper compares and calculates the current power technology structure and grid emission factors of the host countries, and analyses the carbon emission level of electricity generation from the perspective of the whole life cycle. Making it as the benchmark, this paper also analyzes the current China's invested wind and solar energy projects and the carbon emission reduction benefits to the host country. The results show that at present, China has about 36 renewable energy investment projects in BRI countries, with an installed capacity of 15.75GW (China as the project owner or investor), and achieve at least 48.69M tCO2 emission reduction. This shows that China's effective investment and implementation of the green projects will provide a strong impetus for the energy transformation and the improvement of their energy security in BRI countries.

Climate change with global warming as the main feature associated with fossil energy use has been recognized as a threat to public health and welfare. Energy-related carbon emission reduction is a more serious challenge for BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) countries with rapid economic development. Examining key impact factors is necessary and helpful. This paper is the first study providing detailed country-by-country analyses aiming to identify the key drivers and inhibitors of energy-related carbon emission in 66 BRI countries with more systematic impact factors. The results show that: (1) Economic development (A), population (Ps), urbanization (Pu), and industrialization (Ss) are the key drivers for 52%, 26%, 11%, and 6% countries of BRI countries. Technological progress (T), energy consumption structure (E), and tertiary industry proportion (St) serve as key inhibitors for 65%, 17%, and 8% countries of BRI countries. (2) Different carbon emission reduction strategies should be formed on different geographical scales. At the international level, carbon emission reduction consensus should be reached and carbon emission reduction targets should be formulated. At the regional level of the Belt and Road Initiative, a carbon emission reduction cooperation fund should be established, and carbon emission reduction technologies and measures should be exchanged and data should be shared to promote the green development of the Belt and Road. At the national level, there should be carbon emission reduction policies reflecting national characteristics. At the local level, there should be specific carbon reduction measures in line with local conditions.

Epidemiological trends and burden of gallbladder and biliary tract cancer in Belt and Road Initiative countries: A comprehensive analysis from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 database.

The effect of China’s outward foreign direct investment on carbon intensity of Belt and Road Initiative countries: A double-edged sword

Unimpeded trade is one of the cooperation priorities in the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. On 15 May 2017, the Joint Communique of the Leaders Roundtable of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation reaffirmed the participants’ shared commitment to build an open economy and ensure free and inclusive trade. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not only China's new action to drive its open and global development, but also a platform for an increasing number of countries to explore free and inclusive trade and promote a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory, and equitable multilateral trade system. It is therefore important to examine the topological relationship between the BRI and global trade networks. More specifically, this article first analyzes the community structure of trade networks using a community detection algorithm, and then estimates the topological relationship between different trade communities. The findings of this article are as follows. First, this research identified three trade communities and two sub-communities in the BRI trade network, in which China is the core, Russia is the sub-core of the biggest trade community, and India, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are cores of the second trade community (South Asia-West Asia). Second, it identified five trade communities in the global trade network, centred on China, USA, Russia, India-United Arab Emirates, and Germany- Netherlands-France-Britain and other European developed countries. Third, the topological analysis indicated that in the global trade network, most BRI countries are attracted by the core nodes of the BRI regions, such as the China, Russia and India-United Arab Emirates core nodes, and have strong trade contacts with BRI countries. Most Central-East European countries are mainly attracted by Germany-Netherlands-France-Britain and other developed European countries with a low penetration of BRI trade. Although some Southeast Asian countries are incorporated into the Asia-Australia-South Africa community with China as the core, they still need to strengthen trade linkages with BRI countries.

There is a global need to jointly build the green Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in order to develop a philosophy of ecological civilisation and achieve sustainable development. This paper aims to analyse the temporal and spatial characteristics of the green development cooperation (GDC) network among BRI regions and countries and explore the reasons for its formation. To this end, the first step was to analyse the spatial and temporal characteristics of green development capability in six regions of 104 BRI countries from 2013 to 2019 using the synthetic evaluation model and entropy method. Next, social network analysis was used to analyse three characteristics of the GDC network: network structure, node structure, and community structure. Moreover, the indicators of network strength and network correlation were used to estimate the structural characteristics of the entire GDC network, while degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality were used to estimate the role and status of countries in the GDC network. In addition, modularity optimisation was used to analyse the community structure and regional effects of the GDC network. The results show that (1) the green development capability of the BRI countries has spatial and temporal heterogeneity. (2) The GDC network among the BRI countries has been initially formed, and has the characteristics of high connectedness, high efficiency, low density, and low hierarchy. (3) The GDC network has community structure and regional effect, showing polycentric and hierarchical characteristics. (4) China, Russia, and the European countries have stronger radiating and controlling power. Central Asian countries along the land Silk Road and Indian Ocean countries along the maritime Silk Road play a significant role as intermediaries and bridges, while the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries play a vital role as the central actors. Finally, some theoretical and practical implications are put forward to provide a blueprint for jointly achieving the sustainable development goals.

Evaluating waste and scrap trade risks in Belt and Road Initiative countries