Corporate responsibility and biodiversity conservation: challenges and opportunities for companies participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Corporate responsibility and biodiversity conservation: challenges and opportunities for companies participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
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DOI：
10.1017/s0376892921000436
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发表时间：
2022-01
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Eve Bohnett;Abdoulaye Coulibaly;D. Hulse;T. Hoctor;B. Ahmad;Lina An;R. Lewison
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Eve Bohnett;Abdoulaye Coulibaly;D. Hulse;T. Hoctor;B. Ahmad;Lina An;R. Lewison
中国的“一带一路”倡议（BRI）旨在建设关键基础设施和协调经济增长，是现代历史上最重要的发展倡议。“一带一路”倡议对可持续发展有着成文的愿景，包括环境影响评估和责任原则。尽管如此，越来越多的文献发现BRI项目对受保护的土地和物种产生了不利影响。为了了解参与“一带一路”倡议的公司的企业责任和法规，我们使用Refinitiv Eikon BRI Connect数据库和中国全球投资跟踪系统收集了260家“一带一路”倡议公司的信息。结果显示，在生物多样性影响、环境恢复、环境项目融资以及联合国可持续发展目标14“水下生命”和15“陆地生命”方面的企业责任报告存在重大差距。我们发现，报告生物多样性责任的公司比例很小，这突出表明需要重组和激励环境和生物多样性风险的报告。目前对责任措施的遵守有限的证据凸显了一个明确的机会，使BRI的发展与BRI的可持续发展愿景保持一致，并加强中国监管框架内的政策参与和联合国可持续发展目标框架内的国际义务之间的联系。
Summary China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), designed to build critical infrastructure and coordinate economic growth, is the most significant development initiative in modern history. The BRI has a documented vision for sustainability, including environmental impact assessments and responsibility tenets. Despite this, a growing body of literature has found adverse effects of BRI projects on protected land and species. To understand corporate responsibility and regulations for companies participating in the BRI, we gathered information on 260 BRI companies using the Refinitiv Eikon BRI Connect database and the China Global Investment Tracker. The results revealed a significant gap in corporate responsibility reporting for biodiversity impacts, environmental restoration, environmental project financing and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 14 ‘Life below Water’ and 15 ‘Life on Land’. The modest fraction of companies that we found to report biodiversity accountability highlights the need to restructure and incentivize the reporting of environmental and biodiversity risks. The current evidence of limited adherence to responsibility measures highlights a clear opportunity to align BRI development with the BRI’s vision for sustainability, and to strengthen links for policy engagement within Chinese regulatory frameworks and international obligations at the United Nations within its SDG framework.