Safeguarding People and the Environment in Chinese Investments

Social and environmental safeguards are meant to protect people and ecosystems from the negative impacts of investment projects. Safeguards are policies, standards and systems that developers, investors and financiers implement to prevent and mitigate the negative impacts of their business activities. Safeguards should be implemented during the entire project cycle, from identification, design and preparation, through development and operation, to the closure of a project.

Chinese companies and financiers often lack strong institutional policies to deal with social and environmental issues. However, this is beginning to change. China’s policy banks have adopted internal social and environmental policies. Several Chinese companies have made commitments to operate in a responsible manner when operating overseas, and some have signed on to international principles and standards. Importantly, Chinese state institutions and industry groups have recognized the need for improved social and environmental standards in overseas investments and in recent years have issued increasingly detailed regulations for overseas investment and several sector specific guidelines.

These regulations and guidelines are discussed in detail in Inclusive Development International’s publication Safeguarding People and the Environment in Chinese Investments: A Reference Guide for Advocates (Second Edition). The policies, standards and guidelines covered in that publication are compiled here for reference. New documents will be posted as and when they are adopted.

(…)

Click on the following link to access the list of general principles; policies, plans, BRI investment guidelines; regulations amongst other materials: https://www.followingthemoney.org/chapters/chinesestandards/