"The year ahead for China, Latin America and the environment" 14 January 2021

Delayed environmental summits must make progress

Government action to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable fisheries fell way short in 2020, as most of the big environmental summits were postponed due to the pandemic. Even those that did happen online, such as the negotiations over marine protected areas in Antarctica, were a big failure. [...]

This year’s calendar will also include a high-level UN meeting on oceans in Lisbon, Portugal, postponed in 2020, and negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to finally end harmful fishing subsidies.  [...]

China looks to develop Mexico’s clean energy

China has invested in a series of projects that promote cleaner energy, changing the playing field. State Power Investment Corp (SPIC), one of the largest energy companies in China, bought Mexico’s leading independent renewables firm Zuma Energia. SPIC has more than US$170 billion in assets across 41 countries, including wind, solar and hydropower projects in Brazil and Chile. Qian Zhimin, president of SPIC, reiterated the company’s intention to promote clean alternative energy and to support the Mexican economy.

Chinese firm Ganfeng Lithium also announced the construction of a lithium battery recycling plant in Sonora that will promote circularity and cut pollution in the electric vehicle industry. If these developments continue over the coming year,  it could mean that Mexico’s development of renewables, which has faltered since the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attract investment afforded by the 2015 Energy Reform, takes a turn for the better. 

A crunch year for the Belt and Road

China’s policy banks have been principal funders of the BRI and their overseas infrastructure lending is down to new lows, according to recent figures from Boston University. At the same time, the project finance is changing as China’s commercial banks and state-owned enterprises enter the fold as important backers of ports, roads and railways that variously qualify as BRI. The initiative still has few flagship greenfield projects in the region. However, projects consistent with its goals, such as Peru’s Amazon Waterway - the dredging of Peruvian tributaries of the basin’s lifeblood in order to facilitate the transit of goods- are controversial. Furthermore, LAC’s four largest economies – Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina – have resisted overtures from Beijing to join, although the latter appears to be edging closer. [...]