China’s infrastructure loans are putting overseas marine habitats and locals at risk, study warns

Researchers have ‘growing concerns’ about harm to marine habitats, local communities from Chinese investments

Better oversight needed for China’s infrastructure lending to mitigate impacts on host countries, study says

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After an extensive study, researchers say they have “growing concerns” about harm to marine habitats and local communities from China’s overseas infrastructure investments. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00am, 7 Dec 2022Updated: 1:39am, 7 Dec 2022

Over the last decade, Chinese lenders have led an unprecedented overseas financing boom for an array of mega projects, including ports, power plants and roads under President Xi Jinping’s transcontinental infrastructure investment plan, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

But all that investment appears to be coming with a growing environmental cost, according to researchers. A new study published by the journal One Earth has detailed the risks to marine systems from China’s global coastal development.

The findings suggest that some of those projects, especially ports and power plants, pose serious risks to marine biodiversity and indigenous communities in Africa and the Caribbean.

The study, released on Tuesday, said port developments presented the greatest dangers to marine systems, with power plants, roads and other facilities presenting the greatest risk factors.

Experts from the Boston University Global Development Policy Centre, the University of Queensland, University of California Santa Barbara, and Colorado State University, studied the marine risks of 114 coastal development projects financed by China from 2008 to 2019.

The projects in the study represented one-quarter of all projects financed by the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. They totalled nearly US$65 billion in financing commitments.

The researchers said that most of China’s overseas development finance portfolio appears to have had negligible potential risks for marine systems, or at least lower risks than those considered in their study. However, they said it was likely that more coastal development projects have been financed, but have yet to be verified.