On Oct 28, 2019, CCICED Inception Meeting for Special Policy Study on Green Belt and Road Initiative and 2030 SDGs & Policy Dialogue on Hotspot Issues was successfully held in Beijing. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Li Yonghong, CCICED Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Director General of Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Mr. Scott Vaughan, International Chief Advisor of CCICED, delivered an opening remark, and the SPS Chinese Team Leaders, Ms. Zhou Guomei, Executive Director General of Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, MEE, and Mr. Shi Yulong, Director General of China Center for Urban Development delivered keynote speeches. SPS International Team Leader Mr. Kevin P. Gallagher, Director of Global Development Policy Center, Boston University, joined the meeting via video call. About 70 delegates participated in the meeting, including experts from home and abroad, CCICED partners, and Secretariat staff.

The meeting launched the SPS on Green Belt and Road Initiative and 2030 SDGs, where experts had intensive discussions on the research scope, key issues, working priorities and expected outcomes, and reached consensus on the research framework and implementation plan. The Chinese Team Leaders shared thoughts on the research and made requirements for the form of outputs.

This SPS will take an integrated approach to analyze the synergies between green BRI and 2030 SDGs, with a special focus on biodiversity conservation which is also the Sustainable Development Goal 15 and has attracted worldwide attention. With sharing ecological redlining experience as an entry point, this SPS will review the current status and challenges for BRI participating countries and identify financing mechanisms conducive to biodiversity conservation, so as to provide policy recommendations for post 2020 biodiversity governance and 2030 SDGs implementation.