Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments

The policy brief examines the nature of China's energy investments in Africa, contrasting upstream extractive projects with downstream power generation. It highlights a problematic bias toward large-scale hydroelectric dams, which the author suggests may be a way for China to export its own domestic overcapacity in dam building while ignoring environmental and geopolitical risks. The document calls for African agency in agenda-setting to transition toward greener technologies like solar and fuel cells, ensuring that investments create local jobs and support structural transformation rather than merely facilitating resource export.

• China's energy investments in Africa are split between upstream sectors, which primarily facilitate the export of resources to China and global markets, and downstream power sectors focused on generation and distribution. For example, in Angola, China's investment has been heavily focused on "upstream oil extraction" through the China Sonangol "Queensway" syndicate, resulting in a failure to improve the country's manufacturing capacity.
• There is a significant bias toward hydroelectric power in China's African investments, particularly in Nigeria and Uganda. The author suggests this may be an attempt by China to find an "outlet for its own overcapacity in dam building," noting that hydro is becoming less price-competitive than solar and often relies on Chinese rather than African labour.
• Chinese-funded dam projects often disregard environmental and geopolitical impacts. The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam is cited as a project that could provoke "serious environmental challenges" and stoke tensions with Nile basin neighbors like Egypt. In Nigeria, China is providing 85% of the $5.8bn cost for the Mambilla hydroelectric project.
• The document recommends that the Africa-China partnership transition to a "sustainability-­‐focused phase" where African leaders co-determine strategic agendas. This shift should prioritize the management of externalities and a move toward clean energy technologies, such as solar and fuel cells, to avoid the historical failures of Western parochialism in Africa.

APA

Bello, O. (n.d.). Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments. Good Governance Africa. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2018/04/Africa-must-nudge-China-towards-more-sustainable-energy-investments-April-2018.pdf

Chicago

Bello, Ola. Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments. Good Governance Africa, n.d. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2018/04/Africa-must-nudge-China-towards-more-sustainable-energy-investments-April-2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bello |first1=Ola |title=Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments |publisher=Good Governance Africa |url=https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2018/04/Africa-must-nudge-China-towards-more-sustainable-energy-investments-April-2018.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bellondafrica, author = {Bello, Ola}, title = {{Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments}}, institution = {Good Governance Africa}, url = {https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2018/04/Africa-must-nudge-China-towards-more-sustainable-energy-investments-April-2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }