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Stepping Lighter? Environmental and Social Impacts of China’s Overseas Oil, Mineral, and Gas Investments

To get the New Year rolling here at the Wilson Center, we start off with a CEF meeting on Friday January 13th (10:00-12:00) discussing the drivers and ecological impacts of China’s overseas investments in the oil and mining sectors. Our three speakers—Erica Downs (Brookings); Adina Matisoff (Friends of Earth); and Derek Scissors (The Heritage Foundation)—will share case studies and insights into Chinese investments in oil and minerals, as well as trends in China Development Bank loans and the financing of energy projects overseas.

Date & Time

Friday
Jan. 13, 2012
10:00am – 12:00pm ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

China is now a major global player in oil, gas, and mineral extraction investments.  In 2009 and 2010, China Development Bank (CDB) extended lines of credit totaling almost $65 billion to energy companies and government entities in Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Nearly all of these loans are secured by revenue earned from the sale of oil at market prices to Chinese national oil companies. Drawing on her recently released study (Inside China, Inc.), Erika Downs will discuss how CDB’s energy-backed loans demonstrate the increasingly central role the bank is playing in China’s “going out” strategy, which is facilitating the international expansion of Chinese firms to secure energy and natural resources, build national champions, and acquire advanced technologies.

Drawing on extensive case studies conducted by Friends of Earth, Adina Matisoff will give an assessment of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation’s environmental and social policies and practices across its global portfolio. She also will discuss environmental and social trends of Chinese mining investments overseas.

Putting the China’s mining investments in a larger context will be Derek Scissors who has built the most extensive web database on Chinese investments overseas (seethe Heritage Foundation’s China Global Investment Tracker). He will dig into issues related to Chinese metal mining investments in Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, and other countries.

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Hosted By

China Environment Forum

Since 1997, the China Environment Forum's mission has been to forge U.S.-China cooperation on energy, environment, and sustainable development challenges. We play a unique nonpartisan role in creating multi-stakeholder dialogues around these issues.  Read more

Environmental Change and Security Program

The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy.  Read more

Thank you for your interest in this event. Please send any feedback or questions to our Events staff.