Does Green Overseas Investment Improve Public Perception in Host Countries? Evidence from Chinese Energy Engagement in 32 African Countries

Christoph Nedopil and Mengdi Yue ()
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Christoph Nedopil: Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Mengdi Yue: Green Finance and Development Center, Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF), Fudan University, Shanghai 200437, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: This study examines whether and how green overseas economic engagement impacts public perception in host countries as a form of soft power. We build an extensive country-level dataset on Chinese bilateral engagement in 32 African countries from 2015 to 2019 and use a fixed-effect model. We find that increased investment in green energy improves the average public perception of China. In contrast, for non-green energy investment (like coal, gas, and oil), which might also be considered as contributing to economic and employment growth, we did not find such effects. The results indicate that green economic engagement has positive non-monetary returns on the macro-scale and that by taking environmental considerations into investment decision-making, long-term bilateral relationships can be positively impacted.

Keywords: green finance; renewable energy; Chinese overseas investment; Africa; public perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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