China used this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to drive new energy investment and collaboration.
The SCO summit, held in Tianjin from 31 August to 1 September 2025, brought together more than 20 national leaders, including the presidents of Russia and India, alongside 10 heads of international organisations.
A series of initiatives were announced, including the launch of SCO energy and green-industry cooperation platforms, and the creation of a new development bank. China pledged CNY 2 billion (USD 280 million) in grants to member states this year, with an additional CNY 10 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in loans over the next three years. Beijing also committed to jointly adding “tens of gigawatts” of solar and wind power capacity with SCO members over the next five years.
Beyond financing, China also plans expand technical training. Xi announced that 10 new “Luban workshops” will be set up in SCO countries within five years to provide training opportunities in renewable energy, rail and automotive technologies.
The day after the summit, the SCO energy and green-industry platforms were formally launched. Li Sheng, head of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, told Science and Technology Daily that solar and wind account for around 70% of China’s renewable cooperation with SCO states, and that meeting the gigawatt-scale targets by 2030 was “highly feasible.”
Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the SCO has since expanded to 10 member states and 26 partner countries across Asia, Africa and Europe. This year’s summit, the largest in the bloc’s history, also underscored Beijing’s bid to deepen alliances through investment and technology cooperation, at a time of escalating tariff tensions with the United States.
Read Dialogue Earth’s recent analysis on China’s investment in the Global South.