Biodiversity risks and safeguards of China’s hydropower financing in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries

China has emerged as the largest overseas financier of hydropower in low-income countries. Since hydropower dams pose risks to biodiversity, an examination of potential biodiversity impacts of Chinese projects is critically needed. We conducted a biodiversity risk and safeguards assessment of Chinese-funded dams being built in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. We identified 49 Chinese-funded dams in 18 BRI countries. They pose a risk to 14 free-flowing rivers, 12 critically endangered freshwater fish species, and 134 km2 of critical terrestrial habitat. While the overall biodiversity risk is high, dams funded by key Chinese financiers namely, China Development Bank and China Export-import Bank, do not pose a higher risk compared with multilateral development bank (MDB)-funded dams. Chinese regulators do not have binding biodiversity safeguard requirements for overseas projects while the corresponding requirements of MDBs fail to address riverine impact. Robust safeguards and basin-wide planning will allow China to minimize the biodiversity risks of its hydropower portfolio, while still decarbonizing its overseas energy financing.