🇨🇳 NEW REPORT | China steel sector stalls as investments in coal-based steel plants since 2021 exceed USD 100 bn despite overcapacity & climate goals

❗ China must align investments with ‘dual carbon’ goals: CO2 emissions peak before 2030; carbon neutrality before 2060 👇 📈 China’s crude steel production broke 1bn tonnes again in 2023, the 4th year in a row

Increase in domestic steel consumption in manufacturing & infrastructure + strong demand from Asia & Africa compensated for China's year-by-year real estate decline - down to 18.8% in 2023

📢 🇨🇳 NEW | 📊Briefing w/@GlobalEnergyMon
China’s new coal power spree continues as more provinces jump on the bandwagon 👇 China's coal power permitting that started in summer 2022 has continued into July 2023.
January-June 2023 saw construction start on 37 GW (gigawatts) of new coal power; 52 GW permitted, of which 10 GW already under construction; 41 GW announced; 8 GW of shelved projects revived.

📢 🇨🇳 NEW
Briefing: China’s steel sector invests USD 100 billion in coal-based steel plants, despite low profitability, overcapacity and carbon commitments 👇 🇨🇳 Chinese steel firms are making significant investments in new, coal-based steelmaking capacity.
Companies received approvals for 384.3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of new ironmaking capacity & 425.9 Mtpa new steelmaking capacity from 2017 to first half of 2023.

📢 🇨🇳 NEW | CREA’s monthly snapshot on China's energy & air pollution trends is out now👇

June 2023 saw record output of solar & nuclear power; wind was weak; hydropower dropped more (34% year-on-year in June) due to drought & pressure to save for peak demand season/July–August. Due to China's hydropower collapse, coal & other thermal power increased in June 2023, by 14%.
The increase in coal power generation drove up demand yet domestic coal output registered weakest growth this year, 2.5%.
Domestic coal quality declined & imports jumped whopping 110%.

📢 BREAKING
The EU ban on crude oil imports from Russia & the oil price cap are costing Russia an est. EUR160 mn/day, expected to rise to EUR 280mn/day in Feb. as refined oil is added. CREA’s new briefing shows how to cut Russia’s cash flow further👇

energyandcleanair.org/publication/eu… Our analysis shows that the crude oil import ban & price cap have been effective in slashing the cash flows that Russia uses to fund the attack on Ukraine. Lowering the price cap to $25-35, from the current $60, and cutting remaining oil&gas imports can accomplish even more.

📰📊 @BrookingsInst takes a look at the role of 🇨🇳#China in #nickel from 🇮🇩#Indonesia following our report on China's overseas #coal projects:

brookings.edu/blog/up-front/… Captive coal power plants in 🇮🇩#Indonesia highlight a loophole in 🇨🇳#China’s no new overseas #coal pledge & Indonesia’s domestic policy.
Two new #CaptiveCoal plants on China-backed #nickel & #steel complexes secured construction & purchasing agreements from Chinese firms in 2022.

📊🇨🇳NEW REPORT

In 2022, #coal use for power & #steel production in #China has dropped. The target to peak #CO2emissions means it must fall more, yet investments in coal power & coal-based steel plants have increased.

Our new report w/@GlobalEnergyMon looks at what's happening. In the first half of 2022, China’s local governments approved 28 new coal-power units, with 15 gigawatts of capacity, while Chinese steel firms announced 16 new coal-based steelmaking projects in the same period, the most since 2019, with a capacity of 30 million tonnes/year.

BREAKING: Our new research tracked the flows of EUR63 billion worth of fossil fuels from Russia in the first two months of the brutal invasion of Ukraine, revealing the largest importers. It’s time to stop supporting Putin’s war crimes. 🧵 Countries kept buying oil, coal and gas from Russia, even as atrocities grew worse in Ukraine. Russia cashed in an estimated EUR 63 bln for fossil fuel exports in the first two months of the invasion. The EU was responsible for 71% - EUR 44 billion.
energyandcleanair.org/financing-puti…

NEW: Glasgow climate summit impact on coal:
*cancellation of 90 new coal power projects
*phase out 370 existing plants that didn't have a close-by date before
*95% of world's coal plants now covered by carbon neutrality targets - that require closing essentially all of them We tallied up all the commitments to "no new coal", ending fossil fuel financing, coal phase-outs and carbon neutrality announced in the run-up to and at the UN climate summit in Glasgow.

BREAKING: Neglecting #AirPollution costs the Philippines $87 billion in healthcare, lives lost, and income loss every year

📌20 yrs after the passing of the PH Clean Air Act, our report with @icsc_ph finds that full implementation is urgently needed
mb.com.ph/2021/11/10/660… @icsc_ph Approximately 66,000 premature deaths every year are linked to air pollution in the #Philippines

Meeting the new WHO guidelines - which the Act benchmarks to - could halve these health impacts and reduce economic costs to a third

Breaking: China’s power & steel firms continue to investments in coal-based capacity in 2021, even as emissions growth slowed down in the second quarter - new analysis by us and @GlobalEnergyMon.
energyandcleanair.org/china-2021q2-c… New coal power&steel projects announced in China in the first half of 2021 alone will emit CO2 equal to Netherland’s total emissions, if built. 18 new blast furnace projects with a capacity of 35 million tonnes per year and 43 new coal-fired power plant units were announced.

NEW from us: China's key air quality regions met their modest PM2.5 targets last winter, as cuts in heating sector emissions offset effect of swelling industrial output. But, much faster progress needed to "eliminate heavy smog days" by 2025, as targeted.
energyandcleanair.org/china-winter-2… The target to "basically eliminate heavy smog" by 2025 is a nationwide one, and requires action both in current priority regions and other areas, particularly northeast (Heilongjiang) and industrialized areas of north and northwest (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang).