Mapping the environmental footprints of nations partnering the Belt and Road Initiative

Over the past few years, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China has made a notable contribution to the rapid growth of cross-border trade. This however has been accompanied by unexpected burden shifting of resource extractions and environmental emissions to less developed countries. Given that little attention has been paid to the trade-embodied resources and emissions throughout the BRI, this paper, for the first time, accounts for the water, land, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus footprints of 65 BRI nations and traces the flows embodied in international trade between the BRI and remaining 124 economies by employing a global multiregional input-output model. Overall, distribution of the BRI's environmental footprints shows strong spatial heterogeneity, amongst China, India and Russia have the highest total environmental footprints. Furthermore, reverse patterns of spatial distribution can be observed between the total and per capita footprints of BRI nations. When it comes to the global scale, the BRI as a whole is found to be a net exporter of trade-embodied flows except for virtual water. Remarkably, 29% of the BRI nations experience a role transition in supply chains across scales, either from net exporters on the BRI level to net importers on the global level, or in reverse. Our findings provide a holistic picture of environmental footprints at scales ranging from single nations, regions, BRI, and even globe, highlighting the significance of a global view in finding ways to tackle environmental challenges and fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals throughout the BRI countries by 2030.

Automated summary

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China has contributed to the growth of cross-border trade, but has also led to burden shifting of resource extractions and environmental emissions to less developed countries. Research shows strong spatial heterogeneity in the environmental footprints of BRI nations, with some countries being net exporters on the global scale. The findings highlight the importance of a global perspective in addressing environmental challenges and achieving Sustainable Development Goals throughout the BRI countries by 2030.