Yesterday’s Financial Times headline that “China’s overseas lending collapses” dominated the news about Boston University’s pioneering new database that tracks lending by two of China’s largest policy banks, China Exim Bank and the China Development Bank.

BU’s Global Development Policy Center developed the database that indexed almost 900 Chinese-funded projects from 2008 to 2019. In addition to looking at the financial aspects of these deals (loan size, industry sector, and so on), they also mapped each project’s location in relation to critical habitats, fragile ecosystems, and nationally protected lands.