The International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF) at the Central University of Finance and Economics today published a new database and accompanying report that map Chinese renewable-energy investment activities in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries from October 2022 through June 2025. The database consolidates over 500 project-level activities and corporate filings to provide the most systematic public resource to date for researchers, policymakers and practitioners tracking China’s overseas green-energy engagement.
Driven by recent policy signals and China’s global leadership in solar, wind and hydropower manufacturing, Chinese overseas energy investment has shifted decisively toward low-carbon technologies. The IIGF dataset and analysis highlight this transition while addressing a persistent obstacle for impact assessment: fragmented and inconsistent public information stemming from complex corporate structures, cross-border contracting and evolving finance arrangements.
Key findings
- Scope and coverage: More than 500 renewable-energy project activities in BRI countries were identified and validated through open sources and corporate records collected for the period October 2022–June 2025.
- Technological composition: The dataset captures a dominant presence of utility-scale solar and wind activity alongside continued investment in hydropower projects, reflecting China’s technology and manufacturing strengths.
- Commercial and financing models: The report documents a range of business models — from EPC (engineering, procurement and construction)-led projects to equity-and-debt financed concessions and hybrid public-private structures — underscoring the need for granular, project-level data to understand risks and development outcomes.
- Data challenges and methodology: The research details methodological approaches used to reconcile inconsistent public records, trace ownership chains, and classify financing roles of contractors, sponsors and lenders.
Statement from IIGF
“Improving the transparency and accessibility of project-level information is crucial for assessing the developmental and climate impacts of overseas energy investments,” said the Director of the International Institute of Green Finance. “This database is designed to support evidence-based policy, enable independent impact analysis, and foster constructive engagement between Chinese and partner-country stakeholders on sustainable energy deployment.”
What’s available
The release includes:
- An executive report summarizing analytical results and policy implications.
- The underlying project inventory (structured for research use) and a description of the data-collection and validation methodology.
Researchers and policymakers are invited to consult the report and dataset to inform project appraisal, risk assessment and downstream impact evaluations.