China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) can significantly affect the country’s domestic and overseas energy transition and decarbonization agenda. Electricity projects in China’s BRI investments, contrary to popular impressions of being part of a monolithic “project of the century,” have divergent implications for the host country’s shift away from coal-based power plants.  

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Carbon Markets: One Sheikh’s Interest in Africa’s Resources

Why has a company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) taken an interest in Africa’s forests? Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum ‘s company, Blue Carbon, recently initiated deals with several countries (Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) that exchange management of African forests in these nations for carbon credits. 

The world has a sobering debt problem. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing shocks to commodity prices, governments everywhere have borrowed enormous sums to promote stability and kickstart recovery.

Earlier in 2022, Ecuador’s capital was left “virtually paralyzed” after some 14,000 people, mainly Indigenous Ecuadorians, participated in 17 days of sometimes violent nationwide protests. The actions forced the Lasso government to the negotiating table for a 90-day dialogue with Indigenous leaders. By early September, the parties signed a temporary moratorium on the development of oil blocks and the allocation of new mining contracts.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Brazil’s presidential election on October 30, 2022—and his appearance at the COP27 summit on November 16—have put protecting the Amazon basin back on the agenda. Speaking at a Wilson Center event on November 4, Iván Duque Marquez, Former President of the Republic of Colombia and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center, highlighted why it was vital to counter the threat to this magnificent biome: “The Amazon is the most biodiverse area in the planet. The Amazon River discharges in one hour the same amount of fresh water that is consumed in a year by 7000 million people; and, at the same time, the Amazon in terms of size is twice the size of the EU and is larger than the United States without Alaska.”

The MENA region is experiencing a confluence of stressors, from ongoing instability to intensifying climate-related issues like water insecurity. At the recent Doha Forum, ECSP’s Lauren Risi sat down with Hassan Al-Mulla, CEO of Silatech, to discuss what his organization—an international non-profit NGO focusing on youth economic empowerment—is doing to address some of these challenges.

Deteriorating security in Ethiopia, a country W.E.B. Dubois once described as where “the sunrise of human culture took place,” is deeply concerning. The last few months have seen a dramatic involution for a country that was once a poster child for sustainable development. The conflict between the government and rebel forces in Tigray is not just a matter of regional security, but a significant blow to the world’s efforts to fight climate change.