This is Episode 1 of our sub-series "Environmental Issues along the Belt and Road"

The series considers the complexities of Chinese actors' impacts on the environment, extractive activities, and role in driving sustainability solutions from the sands of the Mekong River to lithium mines in Argentina. 

China produces 80% of the world's solar panels, over 60% of all wind turbines, and more electric vehicles than the US and the EU combined. In this episode, we ask how China became so dominant in clean energy technology manufacturing, how its products are exported to other countries trying to transition their energy systems, and what impacts the clean energy tech sector is having in places where manufacturing occurs. 

We interview 3 experts in related topics: 

Anders Hove is Senior Research Fellow at the China Energy Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Previously, he was Project Director for the Sino-German Energy Transition project at GIZ, and a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Anders co-hosts the Environment China podcast. Related reading here, here and here. 

Dr. Cecilia Springer is a Principal at Global Efficiency Intelligence and Co-director of the Industrial Electrification Center. She has over 10 years of experience conducting technical research on energy policy and industrial decarbonization, with a regional focus on U.S., China, and Southeast Asia. She is a non-resident at the Global China Initiative (formerly the assistant director) at the BU Global Development Policy Center where she led the Energy and Climate research group and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Related reading here, here and here. 

Dr. Nikita Sud is Professor of the Politics of Development at the University of Oxford and Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College. She is author of the books "Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and The State: A Biography of Gujarat" and "The Making of Land and the Making of India." Her work explores the transition to renewable energy, and the institutional, political and financial mechanisms that underlie this in regions that are geostrategically crucial, while being environmentally highly vulnerable. We discuss her research on Rempang Eco City, a planned Chinese investment of Solar PV manufacturing in Indonesia. 

Thanks for listening!

Follow us on BlueSky @beltandroadpod.blsk.social