BEIJING: China’s top court emphasises the importance of green practices in cases related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as part of efforts to promote high-quality development at home and sustainable growth globally.
Recently, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released six typical cases related to the BRI, highlighting the need to make green development a key consideration in resolving disputes.
The cases demonstrate how judicial proceedings can support the initiative’s long-term sustainability and credibility.
The SPC highlighted the green principle enshrined in the Civil Code, which provides a legal basis for addressing environmental concerns.
The Ecological and Environmental Code further promotes green and low-carbon development and emphasises global environmental governance, aiming to strengthen international cooperation on environmental protection.
“The BRI has entered a phase of high-quality development,” the Supreme Court said.
“Promoting green development in BRI projects aligns with the central leadership’s requirements on environmental protection and the rule of law, and is an important step towards addressing climate change and safeguarding global ecological security.”
The court added that the approach would help deepen exchanges and cooperation under the BRI, foster harmony between humanity and nature, and contribute to global sustainable development goals.
One of the six cases involved a Chinese solar equipment seller that contracted a logistics company to transport goods to Germany.
After the buyer collected the shipment without paying the outstanding balance, the logistics company was held liable for the resulting loss.
In this case, a new energy company in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, sold a solar power system to a German trading company.
The buyer paid a 20% deposit, with the remaining 80% due upon presentation of the bill of lading.
The Wuxi company hired a logistics firm in Wuhan, Hubei province, to transport the goods from Wuxi to Duisburg, Germany, via the China-Europe freight train service.
Under their agreement, the logistics company was to release the cargo only after confirming receipt of the outstanding payment.
However, the German buyer collected the goods without paying the balance. In August 2023, the Wuxi company sued the logistics firm for releasing the cargo without authorisation.
After hearing the case, a court in Wuhan ruled that the logistics company, acting as a multimodal transport operator, had breached its contractual obligations by releasing the goods without authorisation.
It ordered the firm to pay 380,000 yuan in damages, after deducting the freight charges owed by the Wuxi company.
The Wuhan court’s ruling was upheld by the Hubei High People’s Court in August 2025, despite the logistics company’s appeal.
The SPC described the case as a typical example of a dispute over a green transport international freight forwarding contract under the BRI. — China Daily/ANN
