China began to accelerate the energy transition in the last decade as a strategy for rebalancing its economy and becoming a more influential actor in the global renewable energy market. This article explores to what extent Chinese investment and financing in renewable energy projects in Argentina and Brazil promote these countries' energy transition strategies and sustainable development more broadly. To approach this question, the article provides a reading of Ostrom’s postulates of the energy transition as an increasingly relevant driver of certain states’ relationships with other countries. General trajectories of Chinese investment and lending in Latin America provide a background to Chinese investment in solar and wind power projects in Argentina and Brazil. The article concludes that China’s overseas finance merges with Argentina and Brazil’s own goals regarding renewable energy deployment and discusses future challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

PurposeThis paper enquires into general trends of China's International Development Cooperation over the past decade in Latin America and provides insights into the challenges with the Belt and Road Initiative.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyses quantitative data for Chinese Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Other Official Flows (OOF) for projects in Latin America based on recent data contributions including Bluhm et al. (2018) and Gallagher & Myers (2019).FindingsBased on the data available, it can be concluded that the cooperation between China and Latin America has been increasing. For instance, the value of China's cooperation increased by 4.5% per year on average from 2000 to 2014. Moreover, China's economic and political motivations in the region indicate that the cooperative relationship has been changing from a South–South to a North–South framework. Two main factors are involved in this transition: the evolution of China from a developing country to a global emerging power and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative to strengthen political and economic ties with the governments of the region.Practical implicationsThis investigation suggests that the increasing number of loans in the region and Beijing's growing interest in trade and natural resources are structural factors that guide the Chinese foreign policy.Originality/valueThere are few analyses of China's cooperation for development in Latin America that involve the evaluation of concessional and non-concessional loans for projects in the region in the last decade. This paper also analyses the challenges and opportunities that the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative represents for the region.

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