On the financialisation of green: Chinese operations along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

CHINGREEN is an in-depth qualitative study of Chinese ""green-finance"" operations along the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).The project explores the increasing expansion of Chinese green finance by asking to what extent this is (re)shaping the definitions of global green financial practices and thus the relationship between nature and finance.

The issuance of Green Bonds and the adoption of green financial securitisation for the funding of green infrastructures are among the main tools China has adopted in its global extraversion.

In this unprecedented expansion, it is now clear that the extent of Chinese-led green credit along the BRI will have a make-or-break role in meeting the Paris agreement’ emissions targets.

However, as a common “green” language is yet to be established, the way financial products are defined and capitalised as “green” remains contingent and unclear.

Challenges remain concerning processes of standardisation and measurement of green financial practices at a global level.

This research aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating the special characteristics of Chinese “green” financial capital and how it deploys out of the Chinese domestic borders. The research will consist of an in-depth qualitative inquiry of Chinese green finance.

It will investigate the issuance of a Chinese green bond by the Chinese bank ICBC in Thailand, and a case of green securitisation by Chinese multilateral bank AIIB in Turkey.

These two different financial instruments will shed light on the diversity of green financial regulations and standards in two of the regional environmental/biodiversity hotspots of the BRI corridors: South East Asia and Western Asia.

The overall aim of the project is to collect empirical evidence to contribute to the larger process of financialisation of nature in its global and spatial variety.