Climate Politics
China Must Cut 15% of Steel Capacity to Meet 2025 Climate Goals
- Blast furnaces have to shrink by 200 million tons, study finds
- Output has exceeded 1 billion tons for five consecutive years
Steelmakers have suffered from a collapse in earnings and the industry lost money for most of last year.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
China needs to tackle its steel glut by cutting 15% of capacity this year, if mills are to meet their 2025 climate goals and return to profitability, according to clean energy analysts.
To get back on track, the country’s annual blast furnace capacity has to shrink by at least 200 million tons from its 2020 base — the equivalent of the whole of the European Union’s steel industry, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in a report on Wednesday. Another 150 million tons needs to be zeroed out by the end of the decade.