With FOCAC 9 a few months away, it’s time to reflect on the climate projects delivered after the China-Africa Climate Declarations signed during FOCAC 8.
By May 24, 2024, Development Reimagined’s Climate Action Tracker had tracked 122 projects, with 30 new climate projects tracked in the past six months. Please find our expert view with interactive visualized charts below.
New Commitments Paces down, Execusions on the way
Compared to the over 50 projects increase record from Q1 to Q2 last year, the projects committed in 2024 are relatively “low-key,” with only 30 new projects since the end of last November.
Though the pace of new commitments announcements slowed down, the percentage of “in progress” projects rose from 27% to 32%, showing positive signals of executions.
The recent progress of last year’s tracked projects was updated. For example, the solar panels for the 115MW photovoltaic project in Umoyilanga, South Africa, were shipped by Chinese solar giant Trina Solar. The project EPCs were rewarded by China Energy International Group and China Gezhouba Group in August last year.
27 GW installed renewable energy capacity to be delivered
Following the trends last year, Renewable Energy projects are still in the domain and contributed 63% of the total with 77 projects.
The Tracker added new criteria to map the (projected) installed capacity from those renewable energy projects. Significantly, if all projects are installed, over 27 GW of green energy is generated on the continent.
Destinations: expanding across the continent
By May 2024, 37 African countries were involved, with 5 more countries joining the team in the last 5 months. Nigeria (13) and Kenya (8) are the top two popular destinations, while Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and DRC followed with 7 projects each.
The top destination, Nigeria, has launched 13 projects, with 6 already in operation and 4 receiving investments from China, making it a leading position in China-Africa green cooperations. Meanwhile, Chinese EV bus supplier Yutong also launched its very first EV bus project in Nigeria in 2023, making it a significant case among the 5 clean transportation projects.
As the host of the first Africa Climate Summit 2023, Kenya is proactively developing its green future. Among the 8 projects involving Chinese stakeholders, 5 are all in renewable energy. Notably, Huawei and BYD, all stepped into the country, providing strong evidence of being an African green innovation hub.
Chinese footprints: more than just EPCs
Among the 122 tracked projects, 104 projects’ EPCs are delivered by Chinese companies, accounting for 66% of the total. As traditional hydropower project developers, Power China Group, Energy China Group, and their branches still dominate the EPC deliveries.
Though EPCs still dominate the cooperation, we found that 19 projects also received funding (including investment and loans) from China among the 104 EPC projects. The “Investment + EPCs” or “Loan + EPCs” packages both account for 6.6% separately.
Finance source: mostly “Africa-financed.”
Regarding the finance portfolio in particular, of the 80 projects that revealed details, the Tracker found 42 are financed by African country governments, and 34 projects received funding from China, in different types, including investment, loans, and aid.
China Exim Bank and China Development Bank, the major lenders to previous infrastructure projects in Africa, only contributed four and two respectively, revealing that loans are no longer trending in China and Africa’s climate engagements.
Among the 80 projects, only 11% were solely funded by the stakeholders, apart from China and Africa, but almost 40% of projects are achievements of multiple stakeholders, with some efforts from UN agencies and MDBs.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions : yikefu@developmentreimagined.com
