Author: Maureen Heydt

Webinar Summary: Chinese Loans to Africa Database – Data Update

By Lucas Engel On Thursday, September 21, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center hosted a webinar to introduce a new update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database and discuss past and current trends in Chinese lending to the continent. Oyintarelado Moses, Data Analyst and Database Manager at the GDP Center presented and […]

A New State of Lending: Chinese Loans to Africa

A new update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, estimates that from 2000-2022, 39 Chinese lenders provided 1,243 loans amounting to $170.08 billion to 49 African governments and seven regional institutions. For the years 2021 and 2022 combined, the CLA Database recorded a total […]

Elevating ESG: Empirical Lessons on Environmental, Social and Governance Implementation of Chinese Projects in Africa

China is an important partner in providing critically needed finance and infrastructure development capacity for African countries. With a growing awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks associated with infrastructure development, it is important to consider to what degree development projects cause ESG-related harm to host countries and communities. Are Chinese-financed development projects in […]

Why Governments Must Protect and Invest in Green Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future

By Yan Wang and Yinyin Xu Three years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple extreme weather disasters have pushed millions of people to the brink of hunger and poverty. Progress in achieving the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been rolled back in many countries due to overlapping crises, or ‘polycrises’ […]

For China’s Overseas Coal Plants, Early Retirement is an Economic and Political Imperative. Here’s How It Can Be Done

By Alex Clark and Cecilia Springer Chinese development finance institutions (DFIs) are not alone in providing financing for coal-fired power plants – but they have played an outsized role in funding publicly-financed plants built outside China in the last ten years. Under pressure from host countries’ climate commitments and competition from renewable power sources, early […]

Chart of the Week: 30 Years of Socio-ecological Regulatory Changes in Amazon Basin Show Deregulation Doesn’t Attract Chinese Investment

By Christina Duran  In a March 2023 synthetic report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized that Central and South America face adverse impacts from increased climate damage “without rapid, deep and sustained mitigation and accelerated adaptation action,” which will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. The need for greater climate change mitigation is […]

Meet the 2023 Summer in the Field Fellows

By Christina Duran The Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center is proud to present the 2023 Summer in the Field Fellows. These nine Boston University students are currently pursuing graduate degrees in various disciplines across the University, including social work, linguistics, earth and environment, economics, biostatistics and political science. The GDP Center Summer in […]