Beijing is a major source of financing for projects around the globe that involve the specific minerals needed to facilitate a clean energy transition and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Yet its financial commitments for these transition mineral operations are opaque and poorly-documented.
This dataset is designed to help policymakers, journalists, and researchers understand how Beijing uses financial instruments to bankroll transition mineral operations in developing countries. It systematically tracks nearly $57 billion in Chinese official sector financial commitments for copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earth element extraction and processing operations across 19 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participant countries from 2000 to 2021. The dataset contains detailed information on 93 loan commitments and 1 grant commitment from 86 unique Chinese and non-Chinese financiers to 59 unique recipients. It informs an associated report, Power Playbook: Beijing's Bid to Secure Overseas Transition Minerals, that decodes China’s “playbook," documenting how Beijing leverages a massive stockpile of foreign exchange reserves to expand its control over key segments of the global supply chain for transition minerals.
