BRI boosts international cooperation in renewable energy

BEIJING: Experts at Global Economy and Clean Energy Development Webinar meeting held online said that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a major source of pushing forward international cooperation in renewable energy sector.

According to Gwadar Pro, they observed that COVID-19 epidemic and international trade barriers have impacted on the global economy and energy industry from different perspectives. They agreed that renewable energy has great potential and good momentum of development and international cooperation in this field will be deepened constantly.

Zhou Changchun, representative of Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organizations said that affected by COVID-19, energy investment has an overall decline. Especially, investment in oil and gas resources has decreased for 32%, investment in coal resources has declined for 15%.

“However, this has not changed the positive trend of the development of renewable energy. Compared with the period from 2016 to 2019, investment in clean energy has significantly hiked in 2020,” Zhou added. “The proportion of renewable energy in the global energy mix has been steadily expanding.”

Glenn Pearce-Oroz, Director of International Relations, United Nations Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), said on webinar that, in the post-epidemic era, renewable energy has advantages of bucking the trend. “Contrasted with traditional energy, renewable energy has three characters which will support it develop in post-epidemic era: lower cost, shorter construction cycle, and fewer operation and maintenance personnel,” Glenn said, “We need to develop renewable energy to recover global economy in post-epidemic era.”

Florence Eid-Oakden, the founder and chief economist of Arabia Monitor and an economics PhD of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told the conference that, the renewable energy market of China will increase further in the future, and provide more possibilities for international renewable energy cooperation.

Meanwhile, BRI will change the world’s energy landscape as well. At present, countries along BRI are less attractive to investment from Europe and America, but more attractive to Chinese investment. Under the initiative, more than 48% of China’s outbound investment is in the energy sector.

The webinar was hosted by China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, with the participation of related enterprises and organizations, such as the International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA), SE4All, Arabia Monitor, Japan Sun Economy Association, Renmin University, Shandong University, China Minsheng Bank, TBEA.