Guan Chenghua
Institute of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University
Since the industrial revolution of the 18th century, human civilization has made tremendous progress. At the same time, the accompanying environmental problems pose severe challenges for human beings. The extensive economic growth model with high pollution, high energy consumption, and high factor input can no longer react to the needs of sustainable development. In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) put forward the concept of sustainable development in the report "Our Common Future". People began to explore green development that can achieve economic, social and environmental synergy. In August 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that as one of the three major national development strategies, the construction of “Belt and Road” should create a Green Silk Road.
At present, the construction of the Green Silk Road faces many significant challenges, and the lack of green investment and financing is one of them. On the one hand, people have insufficient recognition and attention to green investment and financing. On the other hand, the construction of the Green Silk Road lacks top-level design and specific implementation rules. Besides, the lack of market-based evaluation tools, technical guidelines, and other related technical support and measures, as well as the necessary guiding funds and construction funds for green investment, cannot be ignored.
Therefore, we must build a green investment and financing mechanism from four aspects of the policy system, technical system, organization, and financial security to provide efficient, comprehensive and sufficient capital support for the construction of the Green Silk Road. And then play the strategic role of the “Belt and Road" such as improving the green development capacity of countries along the line, improving the green development governance system, forming a regional green development consensus, and building a green development destiny community.