In both the United States and China, opinion has moved from a cautious embrace of the other to a conviction that earlier collaboration was naïve and that a “clear-eyed” analysis discloses the other to be possessed of a fundamentally hostile essence. In Washington, policymakers increasingly view Chinese economic statecraft as an attack on the ideals […]
By Cecilia Han Springer Although it is a massive infrastructure and connectivity program at the global scale, China’s Belt and Road Initiative does not reach all host countries equally. Regional patterns in concentration and type of projects mean that these host countries will experience the benefits – and impacts – of China’s outward investment differently. […]
In the lead-up to the first Belt and Road forum in May 2017, China published three official documents emphasizing that its investment projects will be used to promote the Paris Climate Agreement and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and are motivated by the need to “share the ecological civilization philosophy and achieve sustainable development.” Despite what […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented global economic and human crisis, with many developing countries facing serious challenges in continuing to service ballooning levels of sovereign debt. Half of all low-income countries are either already in debt distress or at high risk. Against this backdrop, creditors and the international community have been contemplating various […]
By Bridgette Lang Lithium, an element used in rechargeable batteries and other sustainable energy sources, is in high demand as the green energy market grows. Though lithium products can help countries reduce their carbon footprint, its extraction process is quite far from being eco-friendly. Inevitably, governments and investors must make tradeoffs and difficult decisions. In […]
As China emerges from its COVID-19 recession, the country has already seen an early resurgence in key industrial sectors. This is particularly true for industries linked to renewable energy generation, driven by President Xi Jinping’s quest for carbon neutrality. Conversely to this domestic sustainability drive, China’s demand for lithium from Latin America has been picking […]
By Xu Chen International finance of low carbon technologies is a major driver for the global transition towards a net-zero emissions energy system. As more and more countries work towards national decarbonization targets and align domestic finance with their targets, it is imperative that cross-border finance is also aligned with the Paris Agreement. A new […]
Decarbonizing the power sector will require a fundamental redirection of global finance from fossil fuel infrastructure towards low carbon technologies. Bilateral finance will play an important role in the global energy transition to non-fossil energy, but an understanding of its impact has so far been limited. In a new Science Direct article, Kevin P. Gallagher, […]
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this post shared a chart that was inconsistent with the title of the piece. The chart has been corrected, and the piece has been updated as of Monday, August 8, 2021. By Bridgette Lang Since 2008, China has been a fast growing and evolving player in Latin America, with […]
By Bridgette Lang According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world has added more than 530 GW of newly built hydropower generating capacity from 2000 to 2019, accounting for 40 percent of all capacity the world has built since the 1900s. China is not absent in this worldwide trend, and in fact, has been […]