Green Finance and China’s International Image in the Belt and Road Initiative

This thesis examines the role of green finance in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its relationship with China's international reputation. It argues that green finance serves not only environmental purposes but also functions as a strategic tool for image management, operating simultaneously as risk mitigation instrument and reputational asset. Through policy analysis and investment data, the thesis traces the evolution of China's green finance framework and its application to BRI projects, identifying the conditions under which green investment generates positive reputational outcomes and the structural limits that prevent it from doing so universally. The findings suggest that China's green turn is neither purely rhetorical nor comprehensively substantive, but a hybrid formation shaped by competing domestic, developmental, and geopolitical priorities.