Category: Sustainability

Strategic Sustainability: Indonesia’s Green Bet on the “BRICS Bank”

Indonesia’s decision to join the New Development Bank (NDB) under the BRICS framework presents an opportunity to accelerate its green industrial policy. As the country transitions toward a more sustainable economy, securing financing for clean energy, infrastructure, and environmentally friendly industries is paramount. NDB offers an additional ...

Documenting the Human Cost of Nickel Mining: CGSP Wins Top Photojournalism Prize

The China-Global South Project (CGSP) has won the 2025 World Press Photo Award for a striking photo essay exposing the human cost of Indonesia’s nickel boom. The winning image, taken by Indonesian photojournalist Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro, captures ...

Chinese Investment in Prabowo’s Housing Project Must Support Indonesia’s Renewable Energy Transition

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s ambitious plan to build three million affordable homes annually is a transformative initiative that requires substantial investment—an estimated $2.9 billion. While this figure accounts for construction, it does not cover the necessary supporting infrastructure, particularly clean and affordable energy. As Indonesia pushes ...

Photo Essay: How Nickel Smelting Threatens Indigenous Tribe’s Ancestral Home in Indonesia

The deafening roar of bulldozers ripped through the tranquil forest, scattering birds and shattering the harmony that had defined the O Hongana Manyawa’s home for generations. In November 2023, a viral video captured two men from this nomadic tribe standing ...

What China’s Green ‘Overcapacity’ Could Mean for the Global South

By Xie Ruohan "Overcapacity” is a word that has dominated the global political agenda this year. In an April visit to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen privately and publicly raised the Chinese economy’s “imbalances and overcapacity.” Yellen expressed worries that this overcapacity ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked to ...

Investor Promoting Chinese-Engineered ‘Magic Grass’ in Kenya

A plantation of Juncao contributes to air purification and reduces soil degradation. The waste products from Juncao are useful including the dry leaves which are converted into briquettes to replace firewood.

Southeast Asian Vacation Spots Wait for Chinese Tourists Who Seem More Content to Stay Home

The number of Chinese tourists that went abroad during last week’s normally bustling holiday break was significantly below pre-pandemic levels and even fell short of official forecasts, raising more concerns about the country’s tightened consumer spending. While a rare confluence of ...

China’s Wuling Electrifies Indonesia’s EV Market, but Can the Spark Last?

Chinese electric vehicle maker Wuling is reaping what it sowed almost eight years ago in Indonesia — the largest and most lucrative auto market in Southeast Asia. After injecting a billion U.S. dollar investment over that period, Wuling has now sold over 10,000 Air EVs and ...

South China Sea’s Fish Stocks Are Running Low. China’s Fishing Ban Isn’t Helping

The South China Sea punches well above its size in terms of marine biodiversity. The semi-enclosed sea, which spans over three million kilometers, is home to 8,600 different types of marine plants and animals including tuna and mackerel, grouper, herring, and crab, and seven out ...

Indonesian Nickel: Chinese Investments Must Heed Ecological Risks, Avoid Repeating European Colonialism Sins

Indonesia has a deep wound from colonialism. For centuries, Indonesia was a European colony forced to dig and provide raw materials for the European market. This practice was even maintained during the second president Soeharto’s New Order regime under the disguise of economic development. That is why, ...

Eco-Tourism in Thailand: The Case for Promoting Environmentally-Sensitive Travel to Chinese Visitors

China’s growing partnerships with Southeast Asia in the past decade, thanks largely to its Belt and Road Initiative championing the “China Dream', has attracted an influx of Chinese tourists into the region each year. Many Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia and Thailand, have even offered ...

Q&A: China’s Transsion’s Little-Known Phone Repair Business Thrives in Global South, Offers Clues To Sustainable Hardware Services

Carlcare, a post-sales repair service provider, is a little-known unit of Transsion Holdings, a Chinese maker of mobile phones beloved across Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Like its parent company, Carlcare’s business is thriving in developing countries thanks to its adept localizing; in this case, tapping into ...
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