Aligning the BRI With Sustainable Development: A Regulatory Framework and Its Implementation

China's overseas investment through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has not only encountered challenges relating to environment, human rights, digital governance and security, but is also mired in political and economic critiques. Mobilizing BRI investment can promote equitable economic and social growth, but only if it contributes to sustainable development of countries along the BRI (BRI countries). In recent years a regulatory framework for China's sustainable overseas investment is emerging to align the BRI with sustainable development, which can be attributed with characteristics that essentially combine three tiers and four elements in nature. The three tiers inherently consist of the network of investment treaties, domestic regulation and soft law, while the four elements include rules with restrictive effects that imposes restrictions regarding environment, climate change and human rights on overseas investment, and rules with stimulative effects that encourage investors to adopt instruments like green finance and digitalization. In terms of the implementation of the framework, China has made significant strides in building its domestic capacity for the implementation through legal cooperation and judicial support, and further works with BRI countries to potentially direct the implementation towards a shared normative commitment based on the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda.