China…has increasingly realised the role of voluntary sustainability standards as essential elements of competitiveness, corporate social responsibility and new modes of low-carbon, resource-light prosperity...Although several governmental departments such as Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have issued official guidelines for green procurement and consumption, there is a lack of action plans to put these into practice, which leaves some room for international voluntary sustainability standards to fill in the gap.

…Considering the existing voluntary sustainability standards are mainly focused on forest, agricultural or fishery products, China needs to take the lead in setting a common code of conduct for sustainable development in the infrastructure sector too…This would fit well into the [Belt and Road] initiative’s Vision and Actions.…Existing international standards relevant to infrastructure such as the Equator Principles have yet to be widely accepted by Chinese companies and banks...

Despite…challenges [such as enforcing standards in different local contexts, low consumer awareness of sustainability in China and so on], it is encouraging that cooperation between international sustainability standards bodies and the Chinese government has deepened in recent years.