The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has remained vague in many aspects, including availability of data.
We analyzed a number of data sources and databases that are relevant for the BRI. On this site we provide an overview of relevant data sources. While it is indeed true that there is no “master” database, much data can be found through a variety of sources. The data include:
Financial and economic data
- Debt of Belt and Road countries
- Bilateral debt data of China with Belt and Road countries
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) aggregate data for the Belt and Road Initiative
- Bilateral project finance data (overseas direct investment – ODA) for Chinese investments including in Belt and Road countries
- Export and import data between Belt and Road countries and China
Trade facilitation information
- Trade agreements with China
- Overview of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for BRI countries
Ecological and environmental data for a green BRI
- Fossil fuel financing data Belt and Road countries
- Climate risks of Belt and Road countries
- Climate emissions Belt and Road countries
- Biodiversity and Biodiversity Risks of Belt and Road countries
The table gives an overview and short description of the databases and provides links. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] should you know a database that should be included in the list.
| Data type | Source | Description | Level of analysis | Geography | Timeframe | Website | Quality (5=great and downloadable data, 1=incomplete) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilateral contract volumes | CARI/China Statistics | Financial value of contracts | bilateral | Africa | 1998-2017 | Link | 3 |
| Bilateral Investment Treaties (BIT) | UNCTAD | investment treaties agreements | bilateral | World | 1980-2019 | Link | 4 |
| Biodiversity wildlife camera trap records | Wildlife Insights, Google | wildlife camera trap records using AI to map health of wildlife species | animal species, countries | World | since 1990 | Link | 5 |
| Blacklisted projects and organizations in the BRI (in Chinese) | China Social Organizations 中国社会组织 | overview of blacklisted projects and organizations that pretend to be BRI but are not | project, organization | BRI | Link | ||
| BRI connectivity | ICBC | superficial data on connectivity | country | BRI | Link | 1 | |
| BRI countries | BRI Project Blog | MoUs | bilateral | World | since 2013 | Link | 3 |
| BRI country list | Official list of BRI countries | Chinese list of BRI countries | BRI | Link | 3 | ||
| BRI Environmental Big Data Platform | BRI Environmental Big Data Platform | a collection of data from BRI countries, which is mostly copied from other data sources. not downloadable. | country | BRI | varying | Link | 2 |
| BRI projects | Yi Dai Yi Lu 一带一路 | some project descriptions | project level | BRI | varying | Link | 3 |
| BRI projects | BRI Project Blog | general project description | bilateral | BRI | 2015-2019 | Link | 5 |
| Carbon pricing initiatives | World Bank Carbon Pricing database | database containing carbon pricing and emission traditing initiatives (ETS) implemented, proposed | country, sub-national | World | Link | 5 | |
| Case studies on climate policy implementation | IDFC Climate Mainstreaming Database | a number of policies and case studies on how global finance institutions implement IDFC’s 5 voluntary principles | financial institutions | World | Link | 4 | |
| China Investment Tracker | American Enterprise Institute | Data on Chinese investment in the world with a value of >100 million USD | bilateral | World | 2009-2019 | Link | 5 |
| China’s FDI | China Statistical Bureau | FDI stock, FDI flow | bilateral | World | 1980-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Climate Action Tracker | Climate Action Tracker | provides information on country emissions and sectors around the World also with integration of NDC targets | country, sector | World | since 1990 | Link | 5 |
| Climate Finance Data | UNFCCC Climate Finance Data Portal | Data and information on activities funded in developing countries to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); tracks the Financial Mechanism of the Convention and informs the intergovernmental process under the UNFCCC and relevant stakeholders on the mobilization of resources to support developing countries in the implementation of adaptation and mitigation projects and other activities under the Convention. | country, bilateral, financing institutions (particularly development finance institutions, | World | Link | 5 | |
| Climate laws | LSE climate laws database | an overview of global climate laws and climate-related litigation cases | country, sector | World | Link | 5 | |
| Climate Risk | Germanwatch | Financial losses due to extreme wheather events | country | World | 2010-19 | Link | 4 |
| CO2 emissions | IEA | detailed CO2 emission data | country | World | 1971-2015 | Link | 4 |
| Coal financing | Banktrack | Coal finance, banks, locations, projects | bilateral, projects | World | Link | 4 | |
| Country data | World Bank Data Bank | detailed data on thousands of country indicators | county | World | 1970-2018 | Link | 5 |
| Country overviews | BRI Stats | general overviews of economic indicators | country | World | varying | Link | 2 |
| Debt | IMF | private debt, public debt, gross national debt | country | World | 1980-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Debt | CARI | detailed data | bilateral | Africa | 2000-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Debt | World Bank | detailed debt statistics | country | World | 1960-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Debt | Boston University | general debt including lender, use of funds, amount | bilateral | Latin America | 2005-2018 | Link | 5 |
| Energy finance | Boston University | energy sources, lenders, energy subsectors | bilateral | World | 2000-2018 | Link | 4 |
| Environmental performance | Yale EPI | 24 performance indicators across 10 issue categories | country | World | 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 | Link | 3 |
| Environmental provisions in trade agreements | DIE TREND TRade and ENvironment Database | analyzing how environmental provisions are part of bilateral or multilateral trade agreements | country | World | 1945-2016 | Link | 5 |
| Exports | China Statistical Bureau | bilateral | bilateral | World | 1980-2017 | Link | 4 |
| External Development Finance Statistics | OECD DAC | detailed data that capture OECD development finance statistics and give an integrated picture of both bilateral and multilateral climate-related external development finance flows. | country, bilateral | World, OECD DAC | since 2000 | Link | 5 |
| FDI | CARI | detailed data | bilateral | Africa | 2000-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Financial institutions restricting coal funding | Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) | list of financial institutions that stop or restrict funding coal, including the year of announcement | financial institution | World | Link | 5 | |
| Fossil fuels financing | Rainforest Action Network | different types of fossil fues financing | banks | World | Link | 4 | |
| GHG emissions | Climatewatch | overview and data on country`s emissions, NDCs etc. | country | World | 1990-2016 | Link | 4 |
| Global Solar Atlas | i.a. World Bank | detailed and downloadable (GIS) maps of solar energy potential | GIS | World | Link | 5 | |
| Global Wind Atlas | i.a. World Bank | detailed and downloadable (GIS) maps on global wind patterns for wind power generation | GIS | World | Link | 5 | |
| Green financial markets | GGFI | depth and quality of markets | stock markets | world’s major stock markets | 2015-2018 | Link | 3 |
| Green financial measures, policies, standards and codes | Green Finance Policies | counting close to 400 policy documents for green finance (e.g. codes, laws, taxonomies, regulation), sortable by country, focus areas, asset class etc. | country | World | rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Link | 5 | |
| Investment | APEC | FDI, exports | bilateral | APEC | Link | 3 | |
| Investment project database | Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) | some infos on projects | project | China to the World | Link | 3 | |
| Investment project database | CSIS – Reconnecting Asia | some infos on projects | project | World, BRI | Link | 5 | |
| Multiple platforms and tools for green economy | Green Finance Platform | database of multiple tools and databases for green economy, green finance etc. | databases | multigranular | Link | 5 | |
| NDC good policy practices | NDC Partnership good practices database | Depository of good practices and lessons learned from countries that have overcome obstacles and where climate action is being effectively designed and implemented. | country, sectors | World | since 2015 | Link | 4 |
| NDC nationally defined contributions tracker | DIE NDC Explorer | providing country analysis of nationally defined contributions commitments | country | World | since 2015 | Link | 5 |
| Power plants | RIOT | description of project | project | World | Link | 4 | |
| Project finance | AidData | detailed government finance data for projects | bilateral | Africa, Middle East, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Carribean, Eastern Europe, Central Europe | 2000-2014 | Link | 5 |
| Renewable energy data | IRENA | detailed data on energy capacity and generation, energy balances, finance and investment, costs, policies… | country | World | 2009-2018 | Link | 5 |
| Renewable energy investments | Climatescope Bloomberg New Energy Finance BloombergNEF | cross-border new energy projects with investment volumes, investor country, recipient country, type of investor | country, energy sector | World (bilateral) | 2009-2018 | Link | 4 (non-downloadable) |
| Terrestrial Biodiversity | World Bank | detailed database with animal counts, endemicity score etc. | biodiversity indicators, e.g. total counts of animal prevalence | Subnational | Link | 5 | |
| Trade | UN Comtrade | detailed bilateral trade data | bilateral, country, sector | World | since 1962 | Link | |
| Trade | CARI | detailed data | bilateral | Africa | 2000-2017 | Link | 5 |
| Trade agreements | Asiapedia | Trade agreements | bilateral | World | Link | 3 | |
| Transport data | World Bank | impact on trading cost and shipment time of BRI transport projects | municipal | BRI | Link | 4 | |
| WRI’s Dataset overview | WRI Dataset overview | a number of datasets published by WRI, including global power plants, palm oil, biodiversity areas, ocean and coral reef bleaching, | country, sector | World | varying | Link | 5 |
