China's initiatives in promoting artificial intelligence (AI) and fostering the green transition will not only bring benefits to itself, but also to countries all around the world, according to Otaviano Canuto, the former vice president of the World Bank.
Chinese leaders set out their economic priorities for 2026 during the annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing earlier this month, with a call to enhance innovation-driven development, accelerate the cultivation of new growth drivers, improve AI governance, and advance the AI Plus initiative.
First unveiled in a Chinese government work report last year, the AI Plus initiative aims to promote the extensive, in-depth integration of AI across all industries throughout China's economy and society, and will form a key part of the country's development plans in the coming years.
In an interview with the China Media Group (CMG), Canuto, who is also senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, said that China's drive to promote the development and application of AI technology will help to not only foster new growth poles domestically, but also benefit the wider world, especially developing countries.
"Its own innovation drive will shape global standards, value chains and cost structures in digital and intelligent technologies. Wider deployment of low-cost Chinese AI solutions, hardware and platforms would lower the global price of digital transformation, especially for developing economies. China's innovation push may thus contribute to global productivity and trade growth, deepen South-South technology links and expand the global supply of AI-enabled public goods," he said.
The recent Central Economic Work Conference also urged efforts to promote a comprehensive green transition, with carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality as the goals.
Back in 2020, China announced its ambitious dual carbon goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.
In late September, China unveiled its 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) towards the landmark Paris climate agreement, which for the first time set out an absolute emissions reduction target for the country, marking a shift from intensity-based control to total emissions control.
Canuto said that China's approach to comprehensively deliver the green transition is not only a sign of its own intent to pursue sustainable development, but also makes significant contributions to the overall global response to climate change, which has been fraught with challenges.
"So China is rapidly building a new energy system based on wind, solar and other non-fossil resources. The credibility and implementation of its dual-carbon trajectory are pivotal for meeting the Paris Agreement goals. Its leadership in scaling clean energy, electric vehicles, batteries and related supply chains has driven down global costs, making local carbon options more accessible, particularly for developing countries," he said.
China's AI drive, green transition to benefit wider world: former World Bank official
