By Keyi Tang, Solomon Owusu and Gideon Ndubuisi China’s economic ties with Africa have grown significantly since the early 2000s. China is currently the largest bilateral trading partner and top export destination for most countries in Africa, and since 2013, China has become the largest bilateral provider of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Africa. However, […]
By Jiaqi Lu The phasing down of carbon-based fossil energy in a just and orderly way is essential for mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. To ensure political feasibility, the Paris Agreement incorporates all existing types of measurements for climate commitments, including intensity, emissions peak, absolute emissions mitigation and share of clean energy, and […]
Over the last two decades, Chinese banks and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have provided loans and technology for a large number of coal-fired power plants abroad. With estimated emissions of 245 Mt carbon dioxide annually and a median age of seven years, this overseas coal fleet is increasingly incompatible with host countries’ and global climate goals. […]
The Chinese Loans to Latin America and the Caribbean (CLLAC) Database, jointly managed by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, recorded two new Chinese overseas finance commitments in 2023 worth a combined $1.3 billion. Both loans were made to Brazil’s Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) by the […]
By Arden Radford Access to energy is key to human development, improving health and economic outcomes as well increasing overall living standards for all individuals. However, even in countries where the majority of individuals have access to energy, there are other factors to consider, such as public health. Energy demands continue to rise, especially in […]
By Yan Wang and Yinyin Xu Infrastructure investment is an indispensable driver of development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and many other developing regions, especially amid weak and uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and several rounds of capital flight associated with monetary tightening in advanced countries. Over the past two decades, China has become the […]
To meet the 1.5C warming threshold of the Paris Agreement, total coal-fired power generation needs to be reduced by 70 percent by 2030 and by 96 percent by 2050. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) signaled the “beginning of the end” for the fossil fuel era, and prioritized a swift, fair transition with […]
Overseas development finance plays a pivotal role in China’s expanding global engagement. Existing scholarship portrays Chinese capital as “patient,” due to its higher tolerance of risk compared to Western capital, which prioritizes short-term gains. In a new working paper, David Landry and Keyi Tang demonstrate that this narrative overlooks the calculated decisions behind much of […]
Editor’s Note: The following testimony was delivered by Dr. Rebecca Ray to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing on Consumer Products from China: Safety, Regulations and Supply Chains on March 1, 2024. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Commission today. I would like to start by congratulating the Commissioners on an important […]
By Ishana Ratan On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) cohosted a webinar to discuss findings from the recent report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) implementation of Chinese projects in Africa. The report is the result of a […]