
The China Environment Forum is New Security Beat’s platform for convening policy, business, research, and NGO practitioners on the most pressing environment and energy issues facing China.
Our posts on New Security Beat explore the environmental footprint of China’s domestic and overseas investments, U.S. and China climate action and clean energy competition, and how China and Southeast Asia can close the loop on plastic waste.
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China’s Off-grid Solar Home Systems Light Up Lives in Sub-Saharan Africa
›China and the Global Energy Transition // China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // July 10, 2025 // By Charles MpakaIn a rural, hard-to-reach area of Blantyre district in southern Malawi, Ephraim Louis cannot imagine where his life would be without the solar panel on the roof of his house. “I am not a captive of darkness anymore,” says Louis, 42. “It’s been more than 10 years since I installed this [solar panel] system. We still don’t have the main grid anywhere near us and no one here thinks it will ever come.”
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Unwrapping the Cucumber: Q&A with Friends of Nature’s Jinghua Sun on the Hidden Crisis of Produce Plastic Packaging
›A few days ago, I bought a cucumber at the grocery store. Hermetically sealed in a layer of plastic as if bracing itself for interstellar travel rather than a trip to my kitchen, I struggled to open it, my patience thinning with the plastic. At one point I considered using my teeth. That’s when it hit me: was this really necessary?
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Debunking the Patient Capital Myth: The Reality of China’s Resource-Backed Lending Practices
›Last year, African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina called for the end of resource-backed loans (RBLs) for African countries, calling them “asymmetrical” and “non-transparent.” These loans—where governments pledge future resource revenues in exchange for infrastructure agreements—have been widely used across African countries with Chinese lenders playing a dominant role.
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From Waste to Wear: Chinese Startup Revolutionizing Sustainable Fashion with Recycled Materials
›China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // waste // March 13, 2025 // By Yunhuan Chen, Haiying Lin & Haifeng HuangIn December 2024, the Global Plastic Treaty delegates kicked the plastic bottle down the road, delaying a final agreement to rein in the plastic pollution plaguing the planet. Recycling has failed to solve the problem, with most single-use plastic waste ending up in landfills (50%), incinerators (19%) or leaked into the environment (22%). Ultimately, the world needs to produce significantly less single use plastics and more reusable packaging. There is also a need to create better technologies and policies to push companies to transform plastics into new products.
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Let’s Make Critical Mineral Lists More Useful!
›In December 2024, China banned exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States. Prices for these critical minerals soon reached all-time highs. The ban emphasized China’s dominance over the sector, including practically the entire graphite supply chain, 87% of rare earths refining, 70% of cobalt refining, and 60% of battery-grade lithium refining.
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Photo Essay: Indonesia’s Decarbonization Tipping Point
›China and the Global Energy Transition // China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // February 20, 2025 // By Ulet Ifansasti & Jacob Dreyer -
China’s Role in Financing the Energy Transition in the Global South
›China and the Global Energy Transition // China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // February 13, 2025 // By Muyi Yang & Xunpeng ShiAs the world inches closer to the critical 1.5°C warming threshold, the demand for decisive climate leadership has never been more pressing. The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on January 20, 2025 has left a leadership void. The confluence of these events also has raised the question of whether China can do more to fill the finance gap and help Global South countries decarbonize.
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Can China Fuel Indonesia’s Clean Energy Transition?
›China and the Global Energy Transition // China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // January 30, 2025 // By Jacob DreyerIndonesia’s economy is on a roll. The archipelago nation harbors ambitions for 8% growth a year on its growing strength as an exporter of coal, palm oil, LNG, and stainless steel made from its booming nickel mining industry.
Investments from China are driving this growth—and run the gamut from traditionally dirty industries (mining, steel, and aluminum) to the crown jewels of Chinese clean energy tech: batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), and solar panel production. In 2023, Xinyi Glass, the world’s largest solar PV panel maker, announced an 11.5 billion USD investment in a quartz sand processing plant in Indonesia.