Greening the Steel and Cement Used in China’s Global Infrastructure Projects

China’s development finance institutions (DFIs), primarily the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export–Import Bank of China (CHEXIM), have become central players in global infrastructure development. At the same time, China’s overseas infrastructure projects have come under scrutiny for their climate impact.

A new report by Hanjie Wang, Cecilia Springer and Ali Hasanbeigi puts this issue front and center. Steel and cement are indispensable for roads, railways, bridges, ports and power plants, yet their production accounts for nearly one-fifth of global CO₂ emissions. As the core materials of Chinese-financed overseas infrastructure projects, they deliver durability but at a steep carbon cost.

The authors argue that reducing these embodied emissions is an urgent priority. In the report, they quantify the material demand and associated emissions in key BRI transport and energy projects, explore green procurement scenarios and discuss implementation pathways that could align Chinese-financed infrastructure with global climate goals.

Main findings:

• Although our findings show that the volume of embodied carbon in steel and cement is smaller relative to direct emissions from highly carbon-intensive infrastructure (such as coal-fired power plants), it still represents a non-negligible and largely unregulated source of CO₂.
• Cement use in Chinese-financed transport and energy projects has generated about 2,452 kt CO₂, almost 2,000 kt of which is from completed projects.
  • South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Ethiopia and Angola account for 40 percent of this footprint.
• Steel emissions vary with sourcing: if produced domestically, they total 3,480 kt CO₂; if imported entirely from China, they rise to 4,772 kt CO₂, reflecting China’s higher carbon intensity. A 50/50 mix yields 3,966 kt CO₂.
  • Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Angola together account for 62 percent of steel-related emissions under the domestic case.
• Green procurement policies can be a powerful tool to reduce embodied emissions by embedding low-carbon requirements into the sourcing of cement and steel.
  • For cement, procurement standards could have cut emissions by 368 kt CO₂ under a modest 15 percent reduction scenario, 735 kt CO₂ at 30 percent and 1,226 kt CO₂ at 50 percent. The most ambitious 75 percent scenario could have seen a reduction of 1,840 kt CO₂.
  • For steel, green procurement could reduce emissions by 522–716 kt CO₂ at 15 percent cuts, 1,044–1,432 kt CO₂ at 30 percent and 1,740–2,386 kt CO₂ at 50 percent. A transformative 75 percent cut could achieve savings of 1,190, 1,983 and 2,974 kt CO₂ respectively.

Looking ahead, green procurement in BRI projects faces governance, technical and political barriers that require a coordinated policy framework. By aligning overseas practices with green procurement frameworks, China can leverage its DFIs and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to reshape supply chains, build host-country capacity for lower-carbon production and pilot technologies such as LC3 cement and hydrogen-based steel. The strategy would also support industrial modernization and economic development in host countries.

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