The Steep Environmental Costs of China’s Massive Global Development
September 23, 2025
China has invested more than $1 trillion in overseas infrastructure projects through its massive Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese corporations are building roads and railways, dams and ports, in developing countries around the world – an initiative marked by both its enormity and opacity.
Executive editor Vernon Loeb sits down with reporters Katie Surma, Nicholas Kusnetz, and Georgina Gustin, who are investigating the Belt and Road Initiative for ICN’s “Planet China”series, and have been reporting on projects in Zambia, Indonesia, Peru and Argentina.
Watch as they assess China’s claims to be “greening” the Belt and Road Initiative, discuss why China’s overseas investments may be more important than any other country’s, and explore what Chinese-led development means for the environment and for people living near projects around the world.
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