Category: Front Page

Global Development Policy Center – Strategic Plan, 2023-2028

The Boston University Global Development Policy Center’s (GDP Center) mission is to advance policy-oriented research for financial stability, human well-being and environmental sustainability. The GDP Center is a University-wide research center in partnership with the Frederick S. Pardee School for Global Studies and the Office of Research at Boston University. The ambition of the GDP […]

Global Development Policy Center – Annual Report 2023

The Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) is a University-wide research center in partnership with the Frederick S. Pardee School for Global Studies and the Office of Research at Boston University. In its sixth year of operation, the GDP Center is proud to present the 2023 Annual Report. The report provides an overview of […]

GDP Center Round-Up: Africa Climate Summit & Finance in Common Summit

By Claire Paul Following the hottest summer on record, policymakers, representatives from international financial institutions, researchers and civil society will gather for two key global summits from September 4-6: the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Finance in Common Summit (FiCS) hosted in Cartagena, Colombia.  The FiCS seeks to reinforce commitments in […]

Debt Distress and Climate-Resilient Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Due to multiple external shocks since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is facing acute debt distress and new highs in the cost of foreign capital. Concomitantly, the region needs to mobilize a stepwise level of financing to meet shared climate and development goals, under the Paris Agreement climate targets and the […]

What’s the Risk? ESG Lessons from Chinese Projects in Africa

By Keyi Tang Africa has major infrastructure needs if the continent hopes to meet the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The African Development Bank estimates that the continent faces an annual financing gap of $68 billion to $108 billion for necessary infrastructure projects like roads, railways and power plants. Over the past two […]

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 […]

Trade Offs: Developing Malaysia’s Solar Industry Amid the US-China Trade War

By Ishana Ratan China is the global leader for low-cost solar panel manufacturing, but their industrial scale up has provoked tariffs from rival competitors: the European Union (EU) and United States (US) imposed antidumping (AD) duties on solar module imports in 2012 and 2013, respectively.  After the EU and US escalated the initial tariffs on […]

Pushed to Finance? Assessing Technology Export as a Motivator for Coal Finance Abroad

Remaining below 2°C global temperature warming as stipulated by the Paris Agreement requires phasing out fossil fuels in the power sector, but coal power alone has the potential to exhaust the emissions budget for 1.5°C if all plants currently planned were realized and run until the end of their expected lifetime. In fact, coal capacity […]

Staying In After Going Out? China’s Coal Plant Expansion Domestically and Overseas

By Niccolò Manych Recent headlines have drawn attention to new domestic coal capacity in China. This development has so far not been discussed in light of changes in China’s investment in overseas coal plants, despite the interconnectedness between the two. Over the last decade, there has been contrasting development, with a decrease in domestic coal […]