ISTANBUL

Chinese firms have committed $80 billion in overseas investments in clean technology since last year, according to a report released Monday by the Australian research group Climate Energy Finance (CEF).

In the October 2024-25 period, China’s position as "the dominant global investor in clean-energy manufacturing and infrastructure" was "consolidated" with its $80 billion worth of investments in disclosed new projects across 26 countries, according to the report.

Geographically, Southeast Asia remains the primary manufacturing hub, led by Indonesia and Malaysia, "underscoring the region’s increasing economic integration with China," it added.

Europe drew the most battery-related investments, while the Middle East and North Africa grew the fastest.

Most of the outward Chinese investments, by scale and structure, increasingly favor large-ticket, multi-phase projects, the report said.

China’s cleantech industrial dominance is becoming "increasingly central to its national economic and political interests," it noted.

"Deepening cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative partner countries has become Beijing’s strategic pillar for building its geopolitical influence in line with its consistent positioning as champion of the Global South to 'better bridge the development gap between the North and the South,'" the report said.

The report also noted that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have further increased uncertainty and sharpened the Chinese companies' attention to long-term risk mitigation through market diversification, with a focus on countries not hit by Trump’s tariffs that offer favorable investment environments.