In recent weeks, Chinese President Xi Jinping has hosted a batch of visiting foreign leaders.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) remains one of China’s most important national strategies. In the past most achievements related to promoting the primary targets of the initiative, the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and sea-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In recent years, China has expanded its ambitions with the introduction of the Digital Silk Road, Green Silk Road, Health Silk Road, and Polar Silk Road. While developments in these four areas have already changed the BRI landscape, global investors’ knowledge of the progress being made is still nascent. In this four-part blog series, we delve into these dimensions of the BRI to allow global investors to better understand the initiative’s future roadmap and the relevant investment implications. This second blog covers the Green Silk Road.

In 2021, the EU exported €223 billion of goods to China and imported goods worth €472 billion. China is thereby Europe’s foremost trading partner when it comes to imports of goods, of which a substantial part passes through EU ports, in particular maritime ports.

ERA proposes solutions and emphasises the need for further reduction of the national rules, and further adaptation of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) to facilitate harmonisation across EuropERA — European Union Agency for Railways