China has dramatically cut back financing overseas infrastructure development initiatives, especially for carbon-intensive energy projects involving oil, gas, and coal. From 2016 to 2019, China’s two major policy banks slashed lending by a stunning 85%.

However, renewables are the exception, according to a new report by the Green Belt and Road Initiative Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing. For the first time ever last year, financing for renewable energy projects using solar, wind, or hydropower accounted for more than half of all of Chinese investment in energy infrastructure around the world, said the report.