But what about China?
World's biggest steelmaking country makes rapid transition away from coal a matter of national pride and international propaganda
China’s determined phase-out of coal-fired blast furnaces has become a major propaganda thrust in the country’s campaign to disparage Western competitors.
From China’s overseas propaganda newspaper Global Times:
“The Western steel industry is often viewed as a sunset industry, largely because, despite the industry's attention to and investment in environmental regulations and technological research and development, its transformation process continues to be slow and challenging.
”However, in China, the steel industry is viewed as a sector with the hope of being a sunrise industry, as the transformation efforts bring it significant development and investment potential, particularly under a model that integrates low-carbon practices with product innovation.”
While European, American and Indian steel producers struggle to finance the conversion to green-steel technologies, China’s state-directed economy has the money and determination to dump coal from steelmaking. China intends to dominate the market for coal-free steel in demand by automakers and other industrial consumers.
In December 2024, China’s HBIS Group commissioned the first auto steel production chain using hydrogen instead of metallurgical coal. At the same time, Chinese researchers announced commercial production of virgin steel using coal-free “flash” technology invented in the United States but never developed by Western companies.
Link to full Global Times article . . .