Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden 2333CC, The Netherlands.
School of Sustainability, Reichman University, Herzliya 4610101, Israel.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 Sep 3;58(35):15575-15586. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c04142. Epub 2024 Aug 19.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) stands as the most ambitious infrastructure project in history, marked by its scale of investment, extensive geographical reach across continents and countries, and a diverse array of projects from roads to digital networks. While the BRI's environmental sustainability has raised concerns, the impacts of construction materials used in these projects have been overlooked, especially in developing countries. Here, we map and account for the materials embodied in the BRI by integrating, for the first time, official governmental project reports, geographical information, and material flow analysis. We pinpoint and analyze the BRI material stocks in each individual project by material types, countries, regions, and sectors. Between 2008 and 2023, 328 million tons of construction materials have accumulated in 540 BRI projects around the world, mostly in Asia and Africa. Aggregates (sand and gravel) constitute the largest share (82%), followed by cement, steel, and other materials. Most of the materials are used in transportation infrastructure. Our work further highlights some limitations in terms of data quality for such sustainability assessments. By shedding light on the significant impact of BRI projects on raw material usage across the globe, this study sets the stage for further investigations into environmental impacts of BRI and material stock-flow-nexus from perspective of an initiative.
“一带一路”倡议（BRI）是有史以来最具雄心的基础设施项目，其投资规模、跨越大洲和国家的广泛地理范围以及从道路到数字网络的各种项目都引人注目。尽管“一带一路”倡议的环境可持续性引起了关注，但这些项目中使用的建筑材料的影响却被忽视了，尤其是在发展中国家。在这里，我们通过整合官方政府项目报告、地理信息和物质流分析，首次对“一带一路”倡议中的物质进行了测绘和核算。我们通过材料类型、国家、地区和部门，确定并分析了每个项目中的“一带一路”倡议物质存量。在 2008 年至 2023 年期间，全球 540 个“一带一路”倡议项目中积累了 3.28 亿吨建筑材料，主要集中在亚洲和非洲。骨料（沙和砾石）占比最大（82%），其次是水泥、钢铁和其他材料。大多数材料都用于交通基础设施。我们的工作进一步强调了此类可持续性评估在数据质量方面的一些局限性。通过揭示“一带一路”倡议项目对全球原材料使用的重大影响，本研究为进一步从倡议角度调查“一带一路”倡议的环境影响和物质存量-流动关系奠定了基础。
