The surge in Chinese investments in Africa has brought about a flurry of questions expressing concern over their ecological impact in the host countries. Still, the principles and implementation of environmental management by Chinese firms remains largely unknown.This work, born of a unique partnership between European, Chadian and Chinese researchers, is an attempt to provide some insight on this subject, based on a case study in Chad, on a project that was initiated in 2009 by the leading Chinese petroleum firm, the CNPC.