China is the biggest bilateral development finance provider and it will likely continue to have a prominent role in providing capital for countries around the globe. A new study by scholars from Boston University Global Development Policy Center has tried to gather a comprehensive dataset of Chinese development finance projects in the period 2008-2019 [Geolocated dataset of Chinese overseas development finance]. The top five destinations are Venezuela, Pakistan, Russia, Angola, and Brazil. It is estimated that in those five countries alone, Chinese development finance has reached over USD192 billion for a period of 11 years.
Such mammoth economic efforts often go hand in hand with large infrastructure or industrial projects which can promote human resettlement, deforestation, infringement on Indigenous lands, and illegal wildlife trafficking [China is financing infrastructure projects around the world – many could harm nature and Indigenous communities]. Besides the risk of environmental degradation, BRI projects can also be carbon-intensive and stall the energy transition of host countries. Hence, Xi Jinping's pledge at the United Nations General Assembly that China will no longer fund new coal-fired power projects overseas comes as a game-changer for China’s financial involvement overseas [China pledges to stop building new coal energy plants abroad]. It remains to be seen whether Chinese financial institutions and construction consortiums will be able to step up support for other green and low-carbon projects. Similar pledges so far, for example in the Western Balkans, have faced a lot of scrutiny for greenwashing and are yet to bear fruit [The Environmental Impact of Chinese Projects in the Western Balkans].
Mirela Petkova
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