Tracking China’s Transition Mineral Financing: Methodology and Approach, Version 1.0

Building upon AidData's Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) methodology and the 3.0 version of its Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset (GCDF 3.0), AidData's Chinese Financing for Transition Minerals Dataset, Version 1.0 (CFTM 1.0) tracks grant and loan commitments from Chinese government agencies and state-owned entities that have supported transition mineral extraction and processing operations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The data collection focused on five “focus” transition minerals including copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earth elements. In total, the dataset captures 93 loan commitments and 1 grant commitment worth $56.9 billion from 26 official sector institutions in China over a twenty-two year period (2000-2021). We systematically searched for transition mineral projects and activities supported by official financial and in-kind transfers from China in 165 LMICs, but ultimately identified transition mineral projects and activities in only 19 countries, all of which are BRI participants.

The CFTM 1.0 dataset, which tracks the implementation of transition mineral projects and activities over a 25-year period (2000 to 2024), is designed to help policymakers, journalists, and researchers understand how Beijing uses financial instruments to access and control the global supply of transition minerals in BRI participant countries. AidData provides a detailed analysis of key patterns and trends from the CFTM 1.0 dataset in its policy report Power Playbook: Beijing’s Bid to Secure Overseas Transition Minerals.