Sustainability and Power in Transnational Infrastructure: The Environmental Politics of the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative represents the People’s Republic of China’s most expansive economic undertaking and has commanded sustained international attention since its announcement in 2013. Infrastructure programmes unfolding in more than one hundred and forty partner states, many classified as developing or least-developed economies, are poised to recalibrate existing regimes of environmental governance. Guided by a polycentric analytical lens, this study traces the domestic institutional arrangements China has begun to assemble in support of a ‘green’ Belt and Road Initiative, foregrounding the contributions of governmental agencies, corporate actors, civil-society organisations, and financial institutions. Qualitative evidence reveals that the current governance architecture rests predominantly on voluntary corporate engagement: principles of self-regulation underpin a suite of bilateral and multilateral sustainability initiatives ranging from green financing standards to ecological management guidelines. Yet the realisation of stringent environmental objectives is contingent not only on priorities set in Beijing, but also on the political and economic agendas pursued by host governments. Misalignment between these priorities may dilute enforcement capacity and limit the diffusion of best practices. The paper, therefore, identifies a series of challenges confronting transnational environmental governance variability in regulatory stringency, uneven monitoring capabilities, and divergent accountability norms and recommends avenues for further inquiry. Future research should compare implementation trajectories, scrutinise financing mechanisms, and design accountability arrangements capable of reconciling ambitious growth imperatives with urgent ecological constraints, thereby deepening understanding for scholars and practitioners alike in the coming decade. Such work will be critical for evaluating whether the initiative can align large-scale development with sustainable planetary boundaries.