Can the Belt and Road Go Green?

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https://eos.org/features/can-the-belt-and-road-go-green] 

By Mark Betancourt, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: China’s global infrastructure investments could tip the scales on climate change, but its relationship with partner countries is complicated. ...The Cauchari Solar Plant, which came online in 2019, can generate up to 300 megawatts of power at a time, making it the largest solar park in South America. ...China has emerged as a dominant force behind Argentina’s engineering infrastructure, partly because Western banks have been hesitant to support the country, .... China, on the other hand, has poured more than $26 billion into Argentina’s infrastructure since 2005. ...the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) ...Xi announced that China would no longer build new coal power plants abroad, signaling a major shift to green infrastructure that could bend billions of dollars toward slowing climate change. ...It remains to be seen how aggressively China will pursue renewable power, but more than 40% of the country’s investment in BRI energy projects was in wind and solar during the first half of 2023, up from only 20% in 2021. ...Because China also brought its considerable manufacturing might to bear on scaling up the industry, streamlining the mass production of renewable technology from solar cells to wind turbines, ...China dominates the global market, supplying more than 80% of solar power equipment worldwide. Its investments in research and development have made solar cells both cheaper and more efficient.... See also New York Times article How China Came to Dominate the World in Solar Energy. 

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