“China Imperils Latin America’s Environment” – 21 July 2017

While President Trump rolls back environmental protections and announces the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, China is trying to position itself as the world’s climate leader, pledging to cooperate with other countries to build an “eco-civilization.” China has established the largest solar panel farm in the world, plans to close over 100 coal-fired power plants, and is committed to…renewable energy by 2020…But if China truly wants to be a climate leader it needs to address its global climate footprint, not just pollution within its borders…China’s lending in Latin American and Caribbean countries provides a telling example of how the country has outsourced its emissions. These loans have gone mainly to projects with significant environmental effects like oil drilling, coal mining, hydroelectric dam construction and road building. Many of the extraction projects are in areas, like the Amazon rain forest, that must be preserved for combating climate change...While [official] guidelines are rarely followed, they show that there is concern among the leadership about the environmental and social impact of the country’s investments abroad. In Nicaragua, Ecuador and Peru, community protests against Chinese operations have led to the killings of local residents, imposition of states of emergency and legal actions against Chinese companies.  [Refers to China Development Bank, China Export-Import Bank, Gezhouba]