In 2015, Former Italian ambassador to China Alberto Bradanini accused former Italian Environment Minister Corrado Clini of awarding green energy projects to Chinese companies from 2011 to 2013 in exchange for money or other favors from the CCP. Italian investigators reported that some of the projects were completed in a substandard way while others were priced far above market value. Nevertheless, Clini called one of these poorly executed projects, “intelligent, ecological, and energy efficient,” and pointed to a report commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, which received more than 70 million euros from the grants Clini oversaw, which judged the projects to be in “excellent” condition. Bradanini is now on the board of directors and steering committee of the Silk Road Cities Alliances, a Beijing-based organization which works to coordinate social resources to implement the BRI. Bradanini is also president of the Centre for Contemporary China Studies (CSCC), an Italian China studies think tank.