China pours funding into green energy deals as Iran war hits oil demand
Summary: China pours funding into green energy deals as Iran war hits oil demand
The Belt and Road Initiative’s green energy financing hit a record $20.1bn in the first half of 2026, already surpassing all of 2025, according to research from the University of Queensland and the Green Finance & Development Center in Shanghai. This included $11.8bn in construction and $8.3bn in investment. Researcher Christoph Nedopil Wang attributed the rise to the lower cost of green energy, compounded by energy price volatility from the US/Israel-Iran conflict pushing oil and gas prices up.
Total BRI deals reached a record $126.3bn in H1 2026, up from $123.3bn a year earlier, with gains also seen in manufacturing, technology, metals, and mining. China’s customs data showed a parallel surge in cleantech exports.
Experts noted the BRI is increasingly driven by private companies rather than state-owned enterprises, with private-sector engagement reaching 48% in H1, up from 13% in 2022 — reflecting both commercially-driven investment decisions and the growing competitiveness of Chinese cleantech, according to Li Shuo of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub.
Africa remained a major BRI destination, with investment nearly tripling year-on-year to $33.5bn, despite longstanding criticism of the program over debt sustainability and opaque lending terms. No new BRI projects were announced in Pakistan or Russia, reflecting weakened engagement — Russia ties have cooled since the invasion of Ukraine, while Pakistan appears to be pivoting somewhat toward the US as China-India relations stabilize.