Violante di Canossa (Viola) is the Development Economist and Head of Research and Policy Team at UNDP China. She has been collaborating with the office since 2018, first as the leading author of a study on global value chains in the palm oil sector and then as a development advisor. Viola has had a diverse career combining an interest in both development and mainstream economics. Before joining UNDP China, she worked for the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), a Swiss think tank, on sustainable global value chains. Prior to that she worked for 10 years as an Economist for Credit Suisse (London), covering European macro trends and their impact on policy and international financial markets.
Educated in Italy and the United Kingdom, Viola holds a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics.
The United Nations has been committed to and will continue to promote the SDGs. In your opinion, what actions should China take to promote green, inclusive, and high-quality development? What roles should the public and private sectors play in this process?
Now more than halfway towards the global deadline for meeting the SDGs by 2030, the world is still far from on track to achieving them. Indeed, 37 percent of SDGs have not progressed, or even regressed, below the 2015 baseline.[1] Urgent and more ambitious action by all stakeholders is needed to deliver prosperity for all and be in harmony with nature.
During the last global development agenda, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), China significantly contributed to MDG 1 to halve extreme poverty. More recently, President Xi’s dual carbon goals ignited new momentum for climate action. The government followed up by launching the 1+N policy framework[2] comprising more than a hundred plans and measures for achieving the carbon neutrality goal. Non-fossil fuel sources now account for more than half of China’s total energy generation capacity, meeting the country’s 2025 target two years early.[3] China also leads on a range of technologies critical for renewable deployment and is at the forefront in electrifying transport, accounting for around 60 percent of electric car sales globally in 2022.[4]
Looking ahead, to succeed in realizing China’s climate ambition and ensuring green, inclusive, and high-quality development, I see three key areas where transformative actions are critical.
Firstly, challenges from a fast-growing demand for energy that will continue to be highly reliant on coal in the short term should be addressed—56.2 percent of China’s energy comes from coal.[5] At the same time, the last couple of years recorded an acceleration in the additions of new coal power capacity. In the first half of 2023, 37 GW of new coal power capacity started construction, and 52 GW were permitted.[6]
To accelerate low-carbon, sustainable development, China—like all countries—must decarbonize the energy sector, phasing out fossil fuels, expanding renewables, and pursuing efficiency gains. All these efforts can be further enhanced by digitalization and the circular economy. To be socially and politically acceptable, such a transition must also be just and fair for vulnerable people, including retraining those in fossil-fuel-intensive sectors and, when necessary, compensating those most affected.
Secondly, financial effectiveness should be increased by aligning more closely with the goals set by the Paris Agreement and China’s dual carbon goals. The World Bank estimates that roughly two percent of GDP would be needed in additional investments into China’s power and transport sectors to achieve carbon neutrality and its Nationally Determined Contributions. The solution lies within the country’s financing architecture, which is to repurpose financing flows to better enable green development.
Thirdly, as no country, however large or capable, can do this alone, we must strengthen global cooperation. China is gradually working to reflect its domestic green agenda in its international engagements. As we have shown in a recent report[7], China’s foreign aid has increased over time, but green International Development Cooperation (IDC) projects represent a relatively small share of the total. According to the latest data, they accounted for 21.6 percent of the total—offering room for growth.
The public and private sectors, along with other actors, have vital roles in meeting the SDGs. For example, public financing sources currently account for at least 51 percent of total green finance.[8] Allowing these to better support the SDGs by re-prioritizing fossil fuel subsidies to make room for pro-nature and pro-climate finance, among other means, would send a powerful signal to the market for mobilizing private sector finance. Raising awareness and adoption of responsible business practices, including Environmental Social Governance and SDG standards among the corporate sector, would also enhance corporate contributions towards the SDGs.
Could you please introduce the key work and achievements of UNDP China in sustainable development and green finance in recent years?
UNDP has been working on sustainable development in China since 1979, engaging with the government and key stakeholders both nationally and locally. Most recently, our focus has been shifting towards supporting actions for an inclusive, low-carbon transition—reducing emissions while leaving no one behind—along with China’s dual carbon goals and its vision for high-quality development.
A key focus of my work at UNDP is on one of the key enablers for an inclusive low-carbon transition: finance. In this respect, a critical issue is not the number of resources but how we prioritize them. Reallocating just 1.1 percent of global assets would finance the SDGs in developing countries[9]. To accelerate change and further align China’s financial system with the SDGs, we work to increase data availability, boost transparency, harmonize standards, and facilitate international experience-sharing.
To this end, using the SDG finance taxonomy[10] and SDG Impact Standards[11], we have helped to design and issue a 5 billion RMB SDG bond[12] by the New Development Bank (NDB) for China’s COVID-19 recovery, the first time a multilateral development bank applied those standards. We have also worked with the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), which incorporated several key sustainable development aspects and principles in piloting social and sustainability bonds[13]. We also promoted SDG Investor Maps[14] to bridge the information gap between industries and investors, identifying investments that can generate both SDG and financial returns. We developed four such maps in China. Two look into sectors central to climate action: renewable energy and circular economy.
UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative[15] (BIOFIN) is also working to expand nature conservation. As part of this Initiative, Shanghai, one of the largest financial centers in China, now includes biodiversity considerations within green finance regulations.
Finally, as China intensifies efforts toward its dual carbon goals, we encourage an inclusive transition that leaves no one behind. Thus, we pay close attention to social impact, advocating for policies that alleviate adverse implications for employment and energy security through evidence-based analysis for informed policymaking. We recently published a joint report[16] with Peking University that examines the employment impacts of China’s energy transition on the coal mining and preparation industry and the electricity industry. The analysis delves into the consequences of the transition for vulnerable groups, like informal workers, and adds a gender lens. It highlights how female workers, for instance, may be at a disadvantage as the coal sector shrinks. The report also proposes policy tools to minimize labor shocks and maximize opportunities based on a review of international best practices.
You have been promoting the construction of a sustainable global value chain for many years. In the process of building a sustainable global value chain, how can we simultaneously support the goal of “net zero emissions?” What role can China play to better support and promote work in both areas?
Sustainable value chains (VC) are very close to my heart, having worked on this topic early on, including examining sustainable production and consumption of palm oil. Given their major role in all 17 goals as enablers and inhibitors, it is vital to understand the opportunities and challenges for VC stakeholders to support the SDGs and collectively work towards them. Nearly all SDGs are affected, positively or negatively, by global value chains. At the same time, the SDGs represent a new growing market and a nascent labor force.[17]
VCs have an especially significant impact on climate and nature. Deforestation and other types of land use change account for close to 11 percent of annual global CO2 emissions.[18] Agricultural expansion drives almost 90 percent of global deforestation.[19] UNDP works holistically, considering food and agricultural commodities part of an interlinked, complex global system.
VCs have an especially significant impact on climate and nature. Deforestation and other types of land use change account for close to 11 percent of annual global CO2 emissions. Agricultural expansion drives almost 90 percent of global deforestation.
For example, food systems offer a key opportunity for adaptation and mitigation. Agriculture’s impact on soil, forests, and other land uses represents around 30 percent of GHG emissions.[20] UNDP runs a global initiative for Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture (SCALA) across 12 countries. It aims to identify pathways for climate action with the potential to transform food systems. SCALA emphasizes engaging the private sector, being responsive to gender-linked challenges, social inclusion, and whole-of-government approaches to planning and implementation that benefit the most vulnerable natural resource-dependent communities.
In China, we also work with The Nature Conservancy on a project engaging multiple stakeholders in sustainable development across sectors, including international trade, agriculture, forestry, and environmental protection, to identify gaps in greening soft commodity supply chains.
Actions by Chinese stakeholders towards SDG 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption) will have a significant impact, both nationally and globally, as well as affecting other SDGs, including SDG 13, Climate Action, and SDG 15, Life on Land. They would support China’s priorities, such as building an “Ecological Civilization” and rural revitalization, and serve international pledges, such as to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, as announced at COP 26[21]. Specifically, this would include strengthening the understanding of key stakeholders, including government counterparts, academia, and private sectors in China, and promoting two-way dialogues and experience-sharing to curb illegal deforestation associated with agricultural supply chains among countries. Adopting a more systemic approach would also help address coordination challenges due to the cross-cutting and cross-sector nature of the issue.
You touched upon how China is a key actor in global climate action. What are areas for collaboration with the international community in support of China’s dual carbon goals, the Paris Agreement, the SDGs, and the role of international organizations?
International solidarity is critical for the SDGs.
International development cooperation, notably via South-South cooperation (SSC), leveraging traditional and emerging actors’ capacities and advantages, is a distinct example of where China can make important contributions, by helping to share sustainability strengths across countries. This also aligns with the government’s pledge announced at the 2021 UN General Assembly: China’s support for green development in developing countries while stopping building new coal-fired plants.
International solidarity is critical for the SDGs.
We are working with a series of Chinese stakeholders to explore pathways to leverage China’s commitment to international development cooperation and financing to advance SDG progress and the Paris Climate Agreement, drawing on international best practices and standards and offering our multilateral platforms. We aim to foster two-way conversations between China and its partners on best practices and lessons learned.
Last year, for instance, with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), we co-organized a forum[22] convening key stakeholders to discuss critical issues on international development cooperation to advance the SDGs. The forum provided an excellent platform for dialogue, touching on a variety of topics, from sharing lessons learned and best practices in support of partner countries’ low-carbon goals to financing for development. We also looked at recent developments in debt treatments, as China has been active on global platforms, such as the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and the G20 Common Framework. Under the DSSI, China accounted for 30 percent of all claims and contributed 63 percent of debt service suspensions.[23]
As UNDP China, we collaborated with UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Bureau on a report[24] on re-orienting sovereign debt for the SDGs, looking at opportunities to adopt instruments, such as debt for nature swaps, in the region, and sharing lessons from past experiences. We aimed to bring together different perspectives and actors, focusing on the feasibility of a range of tools in Asia and the Pacific, leveraging UNDP’s extensive network in the region. Insights were presented at a policy dialogue[25] where experiences from Ecuador and Barbados were showcased and discussed with a few stakeholders directly involved in those debt-for-nature swap transactions.
As the research and policy team of the office, we strive to continue working on evidence-based analysis in support of informed decision-making while offering a platform for dialogue for the attainment of the SDGs in China and beyond.
How do you practice a green or sustainable lifestyle in your daily life?
Transformation across all of society is critical to meet the SDGs by 2030, including deep and wide-spread behavioral changes from us all.
How do I contribute? I have calculated that through cycling to work 200 days a year, I reduce CO2 emissions by around 640 kg CO2 annually.[26] While this is not much, if 10 million people pedaled to work, schools, or shops, it would cut 6.4 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Again, while this is not much, we also estimate that if roughly a third of China’s population embraced bicycles, this would also shave off around 3 percent of the country’s 2021 CO2 emissions.
Transformation across all of society is critical to meet the SDGs by 2030, including deep and wide-spread behavioral changes from us all.
For this year’s World Environment Day, we launched a #beatplasticpollution challenge in the office. It was a fun collective initiative that put the spotlight on how much plastic—and particularly single-use plastic—we use in our daily lives without much attention. The campaign aimed to reduce the use of disposable plastic tableware or plastic bags for takeaway food among our team members while shopping. Each time any of us failed to ask for or use an alternative, we would ‘contribute’ to the office’s funds for our happy hour gatherings.
We can step up in infinite ways, many of which do not even affect our lifestyle. It doesn’t cost to drink without a straw, use a cloth bag when shopping, or switch off the lights in empty rooms. It’s also easy to walk or cycle rather than drive, particularly on beautiful Beijing autumn days, or embrace waste sorting following community regulations and guidelines, jump on a train (rather than a plane) to Shanghai to see friends, print less and recycle paper, shop according to the season while discovering local delicacies. I am very much looking forward to Beijing’s chestnuts and persimmons. And the list goes on.
Last but not least, our small gestures to respect and protect nature are worth more than a million words for our children, who look at us, as parents and adults, for guidance and example. Only collectively can we truly live in harmony with nature for our future and for future generations.
As the Chinese say 不积跬步无以至千里. （You can’t reach a thousand miles without taking small steps.)
[1] The Sustainable Development Goals Report Special edition 2023, https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2023.pdf.
[2] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/issue-brief-chinas-climate-policy-documents-1n-and-updated-ndc
3 The State Council of China, https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202306/13/content_WS6487c3cec6d0868f4e8dccc6.html
[4] https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/executive-summary
[5] http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202302/t20230227_1918979.html
[6] https://energyandcleanair.org/publication/chinas-new-coal-power-spree-continues-as-more-provinces-jump-on-the-bandwagon/
[7] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/international-development-cooperation-addressing-climate-change-scoping-paper-chinas-policies-and-practices
[8] CPI, The potential for scaling Climate Finance in China. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-potential-for-scaling-climate-finance-in-china/
[9] OECD-UNDP-Scoping-Note-Closing-SDG-Financing-Gap-COVID-19-era.pdf
[10] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/technical-report-sdg-finance-taxonomy
[11] https://sdgimpact.undp.org/practice-standards.html
[12] https://www.undp.org/china/press-releases/undp-and-ndb-join-advancing-sdg-financing
[13] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/issue-brief-pilot-social-and-sustainability-bonds-chinas-inter-bank-market
[14] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/technical-report-china-carbon-neutrality-investor-map-china-sdg-investor-map-phase-ii
[15] https://www.undp.org/china/press-releases/undp-biodiversity-finance-initiative-biofin-china-programme-officially-launched
[16] https://www.undp.org/china/publications/navigating-path-just-transition-employment-implications-chinas-green-transition
[17] https://www.undp.org/eurasia/trade-and-value-chains
[18] Carbon brief《碳简报》, https://www.carbonbrief.org/deforestation-has-driven-up-hottest-day-temperatures/
[19] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Global Remote Sensing Survey 联合国粮食及农业组织（粮农组织）全球遥感调查, https://www.fao.org/3/cb7449en/cb7449en.pdf
[20] https://www.undp.org/facs/blog/scaling-climate-ambition-collaboration-adaptation
[21] https://unfccc.int/news/cop26-pivotal-progress-made-on-sustainable-forest-management-and-conservation
[22] https://www.undp.org/china/press-releases/undp-and-caitec-cohost-forum-strengthening-effectiveness-international-development-cooperation-sdgs
[23] SAIS CARI, April 2013, Integrating China into Multilateral Debt Relief: Progress and Problems in the G20 DSSI SAIS CARI，《将中国纳入多边债务减免： G20 DSSI 的进展与问题》（中国非洲研究计划，2013 年 4 月）
[24] https://www.undp.org/publications/reorienting-sovereign-debt-support-nature-and-sdgs-instruments-and-their-application-asia-pacific-developing-economies
[25] https://www.undp.org/china/news/debt-nature-swaps-could-offer-relief-asia-pacific-economies-facing-sovereign-debt-crisis-say-experts
[26] https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/how-much-carbon-can-you-save-cycling-work; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920921000687?via%3Dihub