Headline: Expert Roundtable: China as a New Development Partner for Clean Energy in Africa?

China’s role as a global investor has grown rapidly over the past decade. It now represents the source of more than 10 per cent of global foreign direct investment, second only to the U.S. The growing role of China in shaping the global investment landscape is also manifested in the founding of two new multi-lateral development banks under Chinese leadership, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (formerly known as the BRICS Bank).

In Africa and other developing countries, China’s emerging role is having profound impacts on the funding landscape for infrastructure investments. A recently published IEA study finds that China supplied the funding for approximately 20 per cent of energy-related investments in sub-Saharan Africa since 2010, and Chinese firms, in most cases state-owned companies, represent the principle contractors for 30 per cent of planned or added capacities between 2010 and 2020. 56 per cent of these projects are in the field of renewable energy. 

At this expert roundtable, participants will discuss the emerging role of China in financing energy infrastructure in emerging and developing countries. Is China becoming a driver of clean energy investment in developing countries? What are the implications of China’s growing role as an investor for Germany and other traditional donor countries in financing renewable energy projects in Africa and other developing countries? 

The event will kick off with a presentation of the IEA Report Boosting the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: China’s Involvement by its main author, David Benazeraf (International Energy Agency). 

This will be followed by comments from:

  • Ariane Götz (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies), expert on China’s role as an investor in Africa 
  • Moritz Weigel (The China Africa Advisory), expert on renewable energy development in  Africa and South-South Cooperation with China
  • Jost Wübbeke (Mercator Institute for China Studies), expert on China’s energy sector and its role as a global investor

Moderation: Rainer Quitzow (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies)

Date and time: May 4th, 2017, 10:00-12:00 (followed by a light lunch)

Venue: Mercator Institute for China Studies, Klosterstraße 64, 10179 Berlin