In an analysis, the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said that China’s newly approved steel and coal power facilities will collectively emit CO2 equivalent to the Netherlands' total emissions.
This includes a total of 18 new blast furnaces with a total capacity of 35 million tonnes of steel per year and 43 new coal-fired power plant units. If approved and built, they will emit an estimated 150 million tonnes of CO2 a year, the report estimates.
State-owned power and steel firms have continued to build and announce new coal-based projects, even as China’s leadership has pledged to aim for carbon neutrality by 2060.
A landmark report from the UN earlier this week issued a stark warning that anthropogenic climate change is already having a devastating and deadly impact on communities around the world and called for drastic decarbonisation efforts and a reduction in fossil fuel usage to tackle the problem.