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Introduction
The estimate for the number of species currently at risk of extinction is c. 1 million species, and this predicted loss is expected to have catastrophic ecological and economic implications (Ceballos & Ehrlich 2002, Cardinale et al. 2012, UN 2019). In light of increasing resource demands, large-scale infrastructure development, extractive enterprises and even private corporations are likely to exert substantial influence on our ability to avert the projected biodiversity crises and, ultimately, to meet biodiversity goals and targets (Lees et al. 2020). Given the evidence of ongoing conflicts between economic activities and conservation (Laurence 2019, Sivaraman 2019, Teo et al. 2019), there is considerable opportunity to strengthen and expand corporate conservation policy and collaboration (Addison et al. 2019, Smith et al. 2019, Thompson 2019, Percival & Zhang 2020).
Corporate initiatives can have a significant moral and practical impact and large spatial footprints in conserving biodiversity (Overbeek et al. 2013, Smith et al. 2019). However, at present, a minority of companies implement formal biodiversity or conservation-related programmes, and a majority of companies do not report or release information about their practices or performance regarding species/habitat loss or extinction (Boiral & Heras-Saizarbitoria 2017, Roberts et al. 2021). Furthermore, academic research is scarce on conservation-related disclosures and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting from large corporations and transnational operations as they relate to biodiversity protection, mitigation, restoration and protection (Adler et al. 2018, Addison et al. 2019, Roberts et al. 2021). Biodiversity accountability studies reveal that there is often limited information provided publicly by companies, especially large corporations involved in biodiversity loss and threats (Boiral & Heras-Saizarbitoria 2017). Yet there has been progress in developing corporate biodiversity reporting guidelines to assess biodiversity risks and integrate corporate sustainability and accountability (Samkin et al. 2014, Addison et al. 2020). With the emergence of biodiversity reporting frameworks, there is a growing ability to evaluate and assess corporate environmental performance for companies involved in large-scale developments and resource extraction projects.
China has become a key player in international development projects as the most prominent emerging economy globally. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR), established in 2013, is an ambitious economic development plan to connect China globally to Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and South America...