Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
In this talk, Duke climate and energy expert Jackson Ewing illustrates the international competition to build infrastructure in developing countries. At the center of this competition is how different investment sources, standards and approaches will affect the global climate.
Under the umbrella of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has become a global leader in debt and equity investments that traditionally have been comparatively emissions intensive, but this calculation is changing partly in response to growing international pressure for China to rollback such investments - particularly on coal - in the name of reaching global climate change targets. The United States Development Finance Corporation, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and international institutions from the World Bank to the Asian Development Bank - in part in response to the BRI - are accelerating efforts to offer low-emissions investment packages that have the corollary of steeper conditionality. This competition to build developing country infrastructure is paramount to broader international goals for addressing climate change, and its future is uncertain.
The talk was moderated by Giovanni Zanalda, director of the Duke Center for International and Global Studies.
Jackson Ewing holds a joint appointment as a senior fellow at Duke University's Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions and an adjunct associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy. He works closely with the Duke Kunshan University Environmental Research Center and International Masters of Environmental Policy programs to build policy research collaboration across Duke platforms in the United States and China.
This event was sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke University Center for International and Global Studies.
Wednesdays at the Center is a topical weekly series by Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Center for International and Global Studies. in which scholars, students, artists, journalists, and others speak informally about their work in conversation with Duke students, staff, faculty, and community members. The series, which began in March 2006, typically welcomes audience members every week throughout the academic semesters over the lunch hour. All events in the series are free and open to the public.
Please check upcoming events here: https://igs.duke.edu/events?dws_event_unit_tid=214
In this talk, Duke climate and energy expert Jackson Ewing illustrates the international competition to build infrastructure in developing countries. At the center of this competition is how different investment sources, standards and approaches will affect the global climate.
Under the umbrella of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has become a global leader in debt and equity investments that traditionally have been comparatively emissions intensive, but this calculation is changing partly in response to growing international pressure for China to rollback such investments - particularly on coal - in the name of reaching global climate change targets. The United States Development Finance Corporation, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and international institutions from the World Bank to the Asian Development Bank - in part in response to the BRI - are accelerating efforts to offer low-emissions investment packages that have the corollary of steeper conditionality. This competition to build developing country infrastructure is paramount to broader international goals for addressing climate change, and its future is uncertain.
The talk was moderated by Giovanni Zanalda, director of the Duke Center for International and Global Studies.
Jackson Ewing holds a joint appointment as a senior fellow at Duke University's Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions and an adjunct associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy. He works closely with the Duke Kunshan University Environmental Research Center and International Masters of Environmental Policy programs to build policy research collaboration across Duke platforms in the United States and China.
This event was sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke University Center for International and Global Studies.
Wednesdays at the Center is a topical weekly series by Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Center for International and Global Studies. in which scholars, students, artists, journalists, and others speak informally about their work in conversation with Duke students, staff, faculty, and community members. The series, which began in March 2006, typically welcomes audience members every week throughout the academic semesters over the lunch hour. All events in the series are free and open to the public.
Please check upcoming events here: https://igs.duke.edu/events?dws_event_unit_tid=214
