Whether China's overseas energy infrastructure projects dirtier or cleaner after the belt and road initiative?

Abstract

We evaluated whether China's overseas investments in energy infrastructure were dirtier or cleaner after the Belt and Road Initiative than those of other countries with similar project and host country characteristics. We used the energy infrastructure project data from the World Bank's private participation in infrastructure database, which allows comparison among countries of investment and controls for the influences of host countries' demand. Our main findings are as follows. First, during our sample period from 2006 to 2019, the average investment volume of projects funded by China was significantly higher overall including in conventional energy projects, compared to those with other financial sources and similar features. Second, after the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the volume of projects invested in by China was comparatively smaller in conventional energy projects but larger in renewable energy projects. Third, the choice of technology type in energy projects reflected path dependency effects on both the investment and host countries' sides. Nevertheless, after the Belt and Road Initiative, China had actively begun to break away from these effects, investing more in clean energy overseas.