IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0300603.html

Does the “Belt and Road Initiative” benefit the environment? Insight from analysis of intra-industry trade in environment goods

Author

Listed:
  • Yacheng Zhou
  • Feiyu Liu
  • Weidong Huo
  • Changjiang Peng

Abstract

The expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has raised a wide range of concerns about its environmental impact. Therefore, from the perspective of environmental impacts, this study used the two-way fixed effect staggered differences in differences (TWFE Staggered DID) method to examine the impact of the BRI on the Environment Goods (EGs) intra-industry trade (IIT) between China and other Belt and Road (B&R) countries, including a sample of 191 countries, covering the period from 2010 to 2019 for eliminating the impact of COVID-19 and the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Because only 135 countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding between 2010 and 2019, this study treated these B&R countries as the study group, and the other 73 countries (non-B&R countries) as the control group. This study described EGs using the 54 6-digit code Environment Goods in Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System listed in the “APEC LIST OF ENVIRONMENT GOODS” published by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2012, and used the intra-industry trade index proposed by Grubel and Lloyd in 1971 to measuring dependent variable. The research results indicated that the BRI has significantly promoted bilateral EGs IIT. The mechanism test implied that, in addition to direct impacts, the BRI also has indirect impacts by boosting the energy restructuring of B&R countries. These results prove that the BRI has positive impacts on the environment. The heterogeneity test showed that there is a heterogeneous impact depending on the type of IIT, product categorization, B&R countries’ income levels, and geographic environment. This study not only gives theoretical and empirical evidence of the positive environmental impacts of the BRI, but also provides practical guidance for the development of EGS IIT between China and B&R countries, thereby contributing to global carbon emissions reduction and environmental governance to some degree.

Suggested Citation

  • Yacheng Zhou & Feiyu Liu & Weidong Huo & Changjiang Peng, 2024. "Does the “Belt and Road Initiative” benefit the environment? Insight from analysis of intra-industry trade in environment goods," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(4), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0300603
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300603
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300603&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0300603?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sung Jin Kang & Sun Lee, 2021. "Impacts of Environmental Policies on Global Green Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Petia Topalova, 2010. "Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-41, October.
    3. Egger, Hartmut & Egger, Peter & Greenaway, David, 2007. "Intra-industry trade with multinational firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1959-1984, November.
    4. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W. & Su, Bin, 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of energy and emission intensities: Some methodological issues," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 47-63.
    5. Kelly Sims Gallagher & Fang Zhang & Robbie Orvis & Jeffrey Rissman & Qiang Liu, 2019. "Assessing the Policy gaps for achieving China’s climate targets in the Paris Agreement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Fukao, Kyoji & Ishido, Hikari & Ito, Keiko, 2003. "Vertical intra-industry trade and foreign direct investment in East Asia," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 468-506, December.
    7. Cheng, Yung-Hsiang & Chang, Yu-Hern & Lu, I.J., 2015. "Urban transportation energy and carbon dioxide emission reduction strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 953-973.
    8. Jung-Soo Seo & Jong-Soon Kang & Deok-Ki Kim, 2002. "Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment and Intra-Industry Trade in Korea," Asia Pacific Economic Papers 329, Australia-Japan Research Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    9. Yan Wu & Chunlai Chen & Cong Hu, 2021. "Does the Belt and Road Initiative Increase the Carbon Emission Intensity of Participating Countries?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(3), pages 1-25, May.
    10. Li, You & Hewitt, C.N., 2008. "The effect of trade between China and the UK on national and global carbon dioxide emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1907-1914, June.
    11. de Soyres, François & Mulabdic, Alen & Murray, Siobhan & Rocha, Nadia & Ruta, Michele, 2019. "How much will the Belt and Road Initiative reduce trade costs?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 151-164.
    12. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    13. Francois, Joseph & Manchin, Miriam, 2013. "Institutions, Infrastructure, and Trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 165-175.
    14. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    15. Shuai, Jing & Zhao, Yujia & Wang, Yilan & Cheng, Jinhua, 2022. "Renewable energy product competitiveness: Evidence from the United States, China and India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    16. Fernando Ascensão & Lenore Fahrig & Anthony P. Clevenger & Richard T. Corlett & Jochen A. G. Jaeger & William F. Laurance & Henrique M. Pereira, 2018. "Environmental challenges for the Belt and Road Initiative," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 206-209, May.
    17. Harrigan, James, 1994. "Scale Economies and the Volume of Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(2), pages 321-328, May.
    18. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 137-147.
    19. repec:bla:ecorec:v:47:y:1971:i:120:p:494-517 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Sadorsky, Perry, 2010. "The impact of financial development on energy consumption in emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2528-2535, May.
    21. Krugman, Paul R, 1981. "Intraindustry Specialization and the Gains from Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 959-973, October.
    22. Xing Zhou & Quan Guo & Ming Zhang, 2021. "Impacts of OFDI on Host Country Energy Consumption and Home Country Energy Efficiency Based on a Belt and Road Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-25, November.
    23. Athey, Susan & Imbens, Guido W., 2022. "Design-based analysis in Difference-In-Differences settings with staggered adoption," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 226(1), pages 62-79.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Shuoshuo & Liu, Yaobin & Elahi, Ehsan & Meng, Xiao & Deng, Weifeng, 2023. "A new type of urbanization policy and transition of low-carbon society: A "local- neighborhood" perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Xing, Qiuhang & Xu, Gaoshuang & Wang, Yanping, 2024. "Open government data and the cost of debt," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    3. Zhao, Xiaolei, 2024. "Can green transportation accelerate carbon neutrality? Evidence from low-carbon transport systems pilot," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    4. Yan Wu & Cong Hu & Xunpeng Shi, 2021. "Heterogeneous Effects of the Belt and Road Initiative on Energy Efficiency in Participating Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "Towards low-carbon development through integration of technology and finance: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Chenhao & Ye, Wenxu, 2023. "Randomized inspection and firm's government subsidies: A natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Zhao, Xiaolei & Li, Xuemei & Liu, Yiran & Mao, Yumeng, 2025. "Emission reduction effects of electric vehicle promotion and application pilots: Cooperative pilots vs single pilots," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    8. Duman, Zaenhaer & Mao, Xianqiang & Zhang, Shining & Chen, Xing & Gao, Yubing & Chen, Yongpeng & Hu, Yunjun & Chang, Yifan & Si, Xiaopeng & Han, Zichen, 2025. "Spatiotemporal dynamics and spatial spillover effects of ultra-high voltage power grid expansion on carbon emissions in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    9. Li, Yutao & Zhang, Jinning & Lyu, Yanwei, 2023. "Does telecommunications infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in developing countries? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 106-119.
    10. Yu, Fan & Xiao, De & Chang, Meng-Shiuh, 2021. "The impact of carbon emission trading schemes on urban-rural income inequality in China: A multi-period difference-in-differences method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Zhang, Mi & Sensoy, Ahmet & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Cheng, Feiyang, 2025. "Can bilateral RMB swap reduce monetary policy spillovers from the United States to China?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    12. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    13. Ichev, Riste & Valentinčič, Aljoša, 2025. "The effect of impact investing on performance of private firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    14. Mac Clay, Pablo & Börner, Jan & Sellare, Jorge, 2023. "Institutional and macroeconomic stability mediate the effect of auctions on renewable energy capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    15. Wei, Qingfang & Liu, Yuan & Cai, Weixing & Wan, Jiangtao, 2025. "Open government data and personal default: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    16. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2024. "Estimating Causal Effects with Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," IFRO Working Paper 2024/03, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    17. Li, Qianqian & Zhao, Zhengtang & Chen, Tingting, 2024. "The effect of public pension insurance integration on income disparities between urban-rural households: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Luis Alvarez & Bruno Ferman, 2020. "Inference in Difference-in-Differences with Few Treated Units and Spatial Correlation," Papers 2006.16997, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    19. Rik Chakraborti & Gavin Roberts, 2023. "How price-gouging regulation undermined COVID-19 mitigation: county-level evidence of unintended consequences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 51-83, July.
    20. Wu, Libo & Zhou, Yang, 2025. "Social norms and energy conservation in China," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0300603. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.