Africa must nudge China towards more sustainable energy investments

This policy brief by Good Governance Africa argues that African leaders must actively reshape their energy partnerships with China to move beyond extractive focuses and dam-building toward sustainable, green energy and local industrial capacity.

• 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. In Angola, investment has been heavily skewed toward upstream oil extraction via the China Sonangol "Queensway" syndicate, resulting in a failure to improve Angola's manufacturing capacity; the country still imports over 70% of its consumer goods.
• There is a significant bias toward hydroelectric projects in countries like Nigeria and Uganda, which the author suggests may be a way for China to export its own overcapacity in dam building. These projects often rely on Chinese workers rather than local labour and can cause environmental and geopolitical tensions, such as the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam affecting the Nile basin. In Nigeria, China is providing 85% of the $5.8bn cost for the Mambilla hydroelectric project.

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} }