Despite being categorised as a developing nation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, China plays a significant role in financing green initiatives across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have also been major financiers in the region through direct financial support, investments, and partnerships.
The climate transition has fuelled both sides’ green finance cooperation. This involvement is primarily influenced by China and the GCC’s ongoing restructuring of industrial policies and economic growth strategies through economic reform and the development visions 2030 and beyond. To support these efforts, China and the GCC states have implemented a broad range of green financial tools, such as green loans, bonds, development funds, insurance, equity investments, and pollution-control rights markets. Both sides’ engagement in MENA serves multiple strategic purposes. It aims to diversify their investments abroad, strengthen their alignment with the regional sustainability agenda and economic transformation, enhance their energy security, and, in China’s case, advance the global adoption of the renminbi.
This webinar brings together experts to examine how China’s and the GCC’s involvement in green finance in low- and middle-income countries in MENA achieves the two sides’ sustainability objectives and aligns with MENA’s economic priorities. It seeks to discover the similarities and differences between both approaches and the implications for local markets.
The discussion focuses on key questions including:
- What are the preferred sustainable financing instruments and investment sectors in China? And how do they fit in China’s overall sustainability-oriented policies?
- How do you evaluate the impact of the economic slowdown, domestic consumption stagnation in China and trade tensions on promoting sustainable finance abroad?
In a period of increasing protectionism, inflationary trade policies and the Gulf sovereign wealth fund focusing investments inwards, in addition to lower oil prices, how can the GCC States reconcile their domestic development priorities with expanding their sustainable finance footprint in other MENA markets facing economic challenges? - What are the potential impacts of Trump’s ‘drill baby drill’ energy policy, hostility to climate policies, aid cuts and tariffs on green finance in the MENA region?
- Could European/UK donors and China agree to a debt-for-climate-resilience swap as a tool to free up financing for more social and development priorities in these countries?
