Format/Structure

This panel will explore both the contradictions and innovations of China’s global ecological footprint—from its extractive legacies to its emerging role as a purveyor of green alternatives.

Long Abstract

China’s global engagements have undergone a significant transformation: once defined by infrastructure-heavy investment and resource extraction, they now encompass a more diversified approach that incorporates environmental aid, green finance, climate, and development assistance. While the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initially symbolized China’s infrastructural ambitions, its evolution—including the “greening” of BRI projects and the launch of initiatives like the Global Development Initiative (2021)—reflects a broader recalibration of China’s global influence and strategy. These shifts coincide with scrutiny of the ecological and social impacts of Chinese investments, alongside Beijing’s growing efforts to position itself as a leader in climate diplomacy and South-South cooperation.

This panel brings political ecology into conversation with China studies, global development, and critical geopolitics to interrogate the emergent (geo)political ecologies of Global China. We examine how Chinese capital, policy frameworks, and techno-scientific expertise are reshaping resource extraction, energy transitions, and ecological management in diverse contexts. We invite papers that critically engage with themes such as eco-infrastructural projects framed as sustainable development, desertification control and socio-ecological engineering, critical minerals and renewable energy diplomacy, and competing visions of energy sovereignty. These developments carry far-reaching implications, as China increasingly challenges Western-dominated models of environmental aid and climate finance.

By analyzing these dynamics, the panel seeks to illuminate how China’s environmental and developmental ambitions are reconfiguring geopolitical rivalries, ecological landscapes, and transnational governance in the Anthropocene. We welcome critical engagements that explore both the contradictions and innovations of China’s global ecological footprint—from its extractive legacies to its emerging role as a purveyor of green alternatives.

This Panel has 10 pending paper proposals.
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