Research Articles: China's External Environmental Policy: Understanding China's Environmental Impact in Africa and How It Is Addressed

Abstract

Many Chinese economic actors in Africa have come under harsh criticism for the alleged environmental impact of their activities. This impact is not always documented, is uneven across the continent, and should be compared to that of business actors from other countries—in particular from the OECD. One major factor accounts for the recorded differences: the policy and regulatory framework within which these business actors operate. The African weak state is not conducive to the adoption of robust standards and their subsequent implementation. However, the shift in Chinese policy at home on environmental issues is already producing some changes for the state-owned companies, and there is a growing concern in China's leading circles about the international image of the nation and its companies turning global.

Acknowledgments

Field trips to South Africa and Beijing were supported by the Coordination of Research between Europe and China (CoReach) project “Europe and China: Addressing New International Security and Development Challenges in Africa,” funded by the French and British governments from 2009 to 2011, and led by Dr. Catherine Gegout (University of Nottingham) and Dr. Daniel Bach (Sciences Po Bordeaux). We are very grateful to the people we interviewed in both countries, the vast majority of whom chose to remain anonymous, and to researchers and colleagues who shared their information and ideas with us.

Notes

Notes

1. Sustainable development is usually defined by three interdependent dimensions: economic growth, environmental protection, and social enhancement. African actors often assess compliance with labor and environmental legislations altogether, hence our passing reference to labor issues.

2. For the most recent synthesis, see Bach and Gazibo (2012) and Englebert (2009).

3. Interview with an official of the Centre for Environmental Rights, Cape Town, June 27, 2011.

4. See the investigation by Chinese journalist Yang Chuanmin (2011).

5. Officially, theses targets were reached and beyond, but some experts doubt the government's statistics. There is an established political tradition for regional and local authorities to falsely claim having met the plan targets.

6. Interview with an official of Friends of Nature, one of the oldest independent environmental NGOs, Beijing, October 2011.

7. For a primary analysis of these policies and their potential, see GEI (2010).

8. Interview with a European Union expert working with the MEP, Beijing, October 2011. Various people from the business and NGO sectors confirmed this diagnosis in informal conversations.

9. Interview with an official of the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, under the MEP, Beijing, October 2011.

10. Interview with an official of Friends of Nature, Beijing, October 2011. See also the IPE reports on its website: http://www.ipe.org.cn/En/index.aspx.

11. See the Green Watershed website [in Chinese], http://www.greenwatershed.org.

12. Interview with a consultant, Beijing, October 2011.

13. Interview with a WWF–China official, Beijing, October 2011.

14. Interview with an official with Standard Bank, Johannesburg, June 20, 2011.

15. Interview with a consultant with the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, November 2011.

16. Interview with a former official of the China Construction Bank (CCB), Johannesburg, June 22, 2011; conversation with a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Johannesburg, June 23 2011; and conversation with a researcher at the Centre for Chinese Studies, Stellenbosch, South Africa, June 27, 2011.

17. Interview with an official with Standard Bank, Johannesburg, 20 June 2011. It was not possible to obtain confirmation of this policy from the company because our requests for a meeting were rejected.

18. Interview with an official of WWF–China, Beijing, October 2011.

19. Conversation with Prof. Yang Dong Ning, Corporate Social Responsibility Research Center, Peking University, November 2011.

20. Separate interviews with a GEI official, Beijing, October 2011, and a Sinohydro International senior employee, Beijing, November 2011.

21. Interview with a Sinohydro International senior employee, Beijing, November 2011.

22. Interview with an international NGO activist, Cape Town, June 28, 2011; and interview with a think-tank expert, Pretoria, June 30, 2011.

23. GEI, http://www.geichina.org/?controller=Articles&action=View&aid=103. See also Zhi and Bai (2010).

24. Separate interviews with an MEP official and some foreign and local NGO representatives, Beijing, October 2011.

25. Interview with Jianqiang Liu, Beijing editor of China Dialogue (http://www.chinadialogue.net/), Beijing, October 2011.

26. However, this trade does not involve only African countries; see Global Timber's website, http://www.globaltimber.org.uk/ChinaIllegalImpExp.htm.

27. Some already are. See this case study on the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Chad: Van Vliet and Magrin (2012).