30.09.2018 - 18:59 [ Diplomat ]

China’s Empty Promises of Green Energy for Africa

(26.September) Chinese energy financing in Africa is not as green as promised. The International Energy Agency (IEA) found that 44 percent of the capacity added in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2015 by Chinese contractors comes from to coal, oil, or gas, the most polluting energy sources. Another half of added capacity goes to large-scale hydropower projects, which have negative environmental and social impacts of their own. Whereas the cleanest energy sources, such as wind and solar, are widely installed within China, only 7 percent of Chinese-backed projects in sub-Saharan Africa actually install such capacity.