By Yan Wang The global economy in early 2026 is confronted with an escalating war in the Middle East causing humanitarian disasters and energy crises. On the economic front, although there is a consensus that the global imbalance is widening, solid evidence for the root causes of this imbalance is lacking. The IMF’s 2025 Article […]
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 […]
By Cecilia Springer, Hanjie Wang and Ali Hasanbeigi When a new railway line connects cities in East Africa or a power plant starts operating in South Asia, many tons of steel and cement quietly shape the structures behind the contracts and headlines. These carbon-intensive materials form the physical backbone of infrastructure financed by China’s development […]
By Julie Radomski, Tsitsi Musasike, Tinotenda Chidhawu, Hudson Mtegha and Earnest Rungano Chinyanga Lithium has emerged as an indispensable resource powering the energy transition, given its central role in electric vehicle batteries and battery energy storage systems. For Zimbabwe, endowed with Africa’s largest lithium reserves, this presents a historic opportunity. The country accounted for nearly […]
The mining sector contributed US$5.6 billion to Zimbabwe’s GDP in 2022 and is expected to contribute $20 billion in 2030. Despite this significant contribution, Zimbabwe does not have a standalone national mining policy or a transition mineral-specific strategy to ensure it reaps the full benefits from its lithium boom. This national policy gap takes on […]
Latin America’s wealth of transition minerals positions it as a key supplier of the raw materials necessary for renewable energy generation. However, despite GDP growth due to commodity exports, past resource cycles in Latin America have resulted in environmental degradation, social conflict and economic fragility rather than broad-based development. Therefore, a just energy transition in […]
By Julie Radomski As petroleum prices reach historic highs while solar and wind prices reach historic lows, the future of the global energy transition appears resilient. This trend continues in large part thanks to China, which leads the world in solar and wind power generation as well as low-carbon technology manufacturing and exports. Meanwhile, Latin […]
By Xia Li A new power plant can look like a straightforward win for a fast-growing economy. It means more electricity for homes, hospitals, factories and schools. But our new study suggests the story is far more complicated. Today, every major energy investment is increasingly shaped by two climate realities at once. First, there’s the […]
By Marina Zucker-Marques, Rosa He and Tianyi Wu Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many developing countries have faced a financial deadlock: they must scale up social and climate spending to support social-economic development, but the lack of fiscal space, and resulting debt distress inhibit new investments. Multilateral solutions such as the G20 Common […]
By Hanjie Wang While trade tensions continue to dominate international headlines, the rapid growth of electric vehicle (EV) industry has attracted less attention. Yet this transformation is already having a ripple effect in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). As governments race to decarbonize economies, the EV sector has become one of the most competitive […]