NAIROBI - Beijing’s rising influence in Africa could help the continent turn around the danger of climate change, taking advantage of its connections with local economies.
Experts discussing the policy changes needed in China-Africa cooperation argued that both sides, by now, understand the danger of climate change especially following a series of natural disasters like landslides, droughts and floods.
China is Africa’s biggest trading partner worth $254 billion in 2021, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. It is also the biggest infrastructure builder in Africa loaning the continent some $126 billion for the projects between 2001 and 2018 and investing $46 billion in foreign direct investments. On average, China has been investing some $3 billion per year in these projects.
The proposals emerged on Thursday at the 2022 China-Africa Think-tanks forum on climate change and energy transition, bringing together policy players from Africa and China. But the biggest elephant in the room is how Beijing will adapt the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to climate sensitive programmes.
The BRI is a global initiative meant to connect trade routes to China through infrastructure building and some 43 countries in Africa have signed up to it, including most in the east African region.
