Talk on  Fragmented Policies, Attenuated Linkages: China’s Renewable Energy Investments and Green Industrialisation in Kazakhstan

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk

 on

 Fragmented Policies, Attenuated Linkages: China’s Renewable Energy Investments and Green Industrialisation in Kazakhstan 

Jewellord (Jojo) T. Nem Singh (University of Sussex) & Yingfeng Ji (University of Sussex)

Date: 31 October 

Time: 11am-1pm

Venue: Room 119, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

Online Zoom registration link: 

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/AQ50hWn8SNqeWDZGwPjUQg 

Everyone is welcome.  

Abstract: China has emerged as a leading source of global climate finance and renewable-energy capital for the Global South, yet its effects on host-country green industrialisation remain under-examined. Drawing on a novel project-level dataset on Chinese renewable-energy projects in Kazakhstan, we analyse spillover channels and the host-country institutions that condition them. We show that, to date and under the prevailing policy mix, host-country policy fragmentation—price-driven auctions, the absence of local-content pathways, and weak coordination between tariff and industrial policies—systematically amplifies Chinese investors’ deployment-side cost advantages. The result is rapid expansion of renewable-power generation alongside attenuated backward linkages in manufacturing and limited learning effects. These outcomes reflect a trade-off between swift decarbonisation and green industrialisation produced by policy-mix incoherence rather than foreign ownership per se. By specifying the micro-institutional mechanisms through which host-country policy fragmentation shapes spillovers, the paper contributes to debates on green industrial policy and offers a nuanced assessment of the developmental implications of China’s Green Belt and Road in Central Asia. 

Jewellord T. Nem Singh is a Principal Research Fellow in Global Political Economy at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. He is the Principal Investigator of the prestigious European Research Council Starting Grant project, Green Industrial Policy in the Age of Rare Metals (GRIP-ARM), a five-year, €1.5 million research programme (2021–2026) that offers a groundbreaking transregional analysis of growth strategies in the critical raw materials sector. An internationally recognised authority on the political economy of development, Dr Nem Singh has made significant contributions to our understanding of the politics of industrialisation and resource governance. His work has been especially influential in debates on industrial policy under strategic competition and the geopolitics of critical raw materials essential for the green transition. With extensive empirical research across Latin America and Asia—including Brazil, Chile, China, the Philippines, and Kazakhstan—he has produced path-breaking insights into how states and societies navigate the opportunities and challenges of extractive-led development. In parallel, his research has illuminated the evolving role of major mineral-consuming economies such as the European Union, Japan, and South Korea in shaping global demand for strategic minerals. He is the author of Business of the State: Why State Ownership Matters for Resource Governance (Oxford University Press, 2024), a major contribution to the field of Political Economy and Development Studies.

Yingfeng Ji is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, working on the European Research Council (ERC) funded project, "Green Industrial Policy in the Age of Rare Metals: A Transregional Comparison of Growth Strategies in Rare Earth Mining (GRIP ARM)." This project examines how rare metals are reshaping global industrial strategies through comparative case studies of China, Kazakhstan, and Brazil. Within this framework, Dr. Ji's research focuses on China’s industrial policy in the clean minerals sector, drawing on extensive fieldwork in China. She also contributes to the project's Kazakhstan case study, examining how the country can leverage its mineral abundance for green industrialization amidst global geopolitical rivalry. Prior to this role, Dr. Ji completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where her research focused on China’s Belt and Road investments in Central Asia. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Kazakhstan and participated in multiple regional conferences in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. She is the co-author of the book, Before China's Belt and Road: Central Asian Connectivity Through Time.