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Paper short abstract

This paper describes and analyses China's role in Cambodia's green transition, which involves mainly a change from coal and hydro power to solar power. It shows how various Cambodian actors try to utilize Chinese interests for defining the trajectory of Cambodia's development.

Paper long abstract

China has been the main investor, aid provider, and diplomatic ally of Cambodia in the latter's post-civil war decades. As Cambodia pursues a more sustainable development plan and deals with the instability of hydro power supply under climate change, China is well positioned to play the most important role in the country's green transition. Although Cambodia is endowed with abundant solar power, the development in this sector has so far been quite slow. This paper delves into this puzzle and provides some explanations by analyzing the political economy of Cambodia's energy transition. It underlines the important roles played by the Cambodian government agencies, state-owned and small businesses, the ruling elite, civil society, and local communities in this process, and how they interact with Chinese companies, Western donors, and international organizations for defining the trajectory of Cambodia's development. It finds that although vested interests try to keep control of their grip on the economy especially the energy sector, the society-wide demand for cheaper, cleaner energy is challenging their control, and Chinese investments and technology are helping with that challenge, even though the Chinese and Cambodian governments are close allies in diplomacy and politics. Moreover, there should especially be caution with the social and environmental impacts of renewable energy projects in a country with less transparency and authoritarian rule.