“一带一路”倡议(BRI)是历史上最雄心勃勃的基础设施项目。以投资规模为标志,跨越大陆和国家的广泛地理影响,以及从道路到数字网络的各种项目。虽然BRI的环境可持续性引起了人们的关注,这些项目中使用的建筑材料的影响被忽视了,尤其是在发展中国家。这里,我们通过整合来绘制和解释BRI中体现的材料,第一次,官方政府项目报告,地理信息,和材料流分析。我们按材料类型确定和分析每个项目中的BRI材料库存,国家,regions,和部门。从2008年到2023年,全球540个“一带一路”倡议项目中积累了3.28亿吨建筑材料,主要在亚洲和非洲。骨料(沙子和砾石)占最大份额(82%),其次是水泥,钢,和其他材料。大多数材料用于交通基础设施。我们的工作进一步强调了此类可持续性评估的数据质量方面的一些局限性。通过阐明BRI项目对全球原材料使用的重大影响,这项研究为从倡议的角度进一步调查BRI和材料库存-流量关系的环境影响奠定了基础。
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.