Greenpeace Links Beijing’s Air Pollution Surge to Steel Factories
16, 2017
Despite promises to cut steel overcapacity, China actually brought more steel production online last year, resulting in a surge in
air pollution in northern China, especially around Beijing, according to a report released this week by Greenpeace East Asia.
el demand and steel prices." The report said most of the capacity
that was cut came from closures of plants that were privately owned or owned by central state enterprises, which suggested that local state-owned enterprises and governments were protecting their own interests. that created a miniboom in construction, artificially inflating ste
Stimulus policies last year also led to an increase in coal prices during one period, though climate change researchers say they expect data to show
that overall coal consumption in China declined in 2016 compared with 2015.
As a result, the net increase in operating steel capacity for 2016 was 36.5 million metric tons, the report said.
The growth in operating capacity was more than twice the total steel making capacity of Britain, the report said.
In 2013, the central government announced goals to cut coal use in three major population centers in China, including
in the large region around Beijing, to try to bring down levels of air pollution, among the worst in the world.
The increase in steel production, which is powered by the burning of coal, also means
that levels of greenhouse gas emissions from that sector almost certainly grew last year, compared with 2015 levels.