On a crisp Saturday morning last month, men in the black jackets favored by local Chinese officials were going door to door.
They were checking to make sure villagers in Tangshan’s Fengrun district — one of China’s smoggiest spots — had quit burning coal for heat.
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“We must ensure that ‘not one fire burns, not one wisp of smoke wafts, not one black speck remains,’?” the Fengrun Economy and Environmental Bureau declared, according to an account of the operation it published.
After knocking on 596 doors, the officials had turned up nearly a ton of unprocessed coal and nine tons of briquettes, and warned residents of the steelmaking hub that burning coal was no longer allowed.
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The household checks reflect tensions in China’s northeastern rust belt as the country comes under new global pressure to reduce its carbon emissions.
China can make or break a global climate deal. What will it be willing to give?
China is by far the largest greenhouse gas emitter, contributing 27 percent of the world’s output. The country is in the spotlight at the COP26 talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where leaders are discussing how to forestall severe effects of climate change.
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China’s President Xi Jinping is not attending the summit in person, but he sent written remarks on Monday that reiterated the country’s carbon emissions will peak before 2030.
For years, China has enacted a range of draconian-sounding measures to tamp down its air pollution, including suspending factory production for weeks on end, allowing cars in Beijing to drive only every other day, and now, raids on household coal stashes.
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Yet China’s carbon emissions have continued to grow.
In recent weeks in Tangshan, officials have urged residents to go green by ditching their coal stoves for electric heaters, according to local government announcements. Climate researchers say such measures will have limited impact on emissions, because households use a lot less coal than factories do.
“It’s relatively small fry compared to those major sources of coal consumption like electric power and industry,” said Cecilia Han Springer, a senior researcher at Boston University’s Global China Initiative.
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Nearly 60 percent of China’s electricity supply still comes from coal. In guidelines released Oct. 24, China pledged to cut reliance on fossil fuels to less than 20 percent by 2060, but that still leaves a long runway for coal-powered electricity.
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Factories also keep finding ways around air-pollution curbs, sometimes by bribing local regulators or falsifying records.
In March, China’s environment minister made a surprise visit to Tangshan, a two-hour drive east of Beijing, after the capital experienced smoggy skies during the Two Sessions, the biggest political event of the year. He found four steelmakers to be faking data to get around air-pollution curbs. The steelmakers were fined, and some of the employees prosecuted.
The stakes will be even higher in February, when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics. Officials in Tangshan and other cities near the capital have been preparing for months to ensure blue skies.
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The Games may hasten China’s green-energy transition, at least in the country’s northeast. But some of the measures are stopgaps or only cosmetic.
Tangshan has been a focus of this effort, as the nation’s heart for steelmaking, a coal-thirsty industry.
In August, Tangshan issued draft regulations that said Olympics pollution controls will be in force from late January through mid-March. They include factory production halts, taking trucks off the roads and a “Big Sweep” to remove dust from city streets.
China’s overseas coal ban raises pressure on developing countries to go green
Chinese cities have long hired workers to sweep streets or spray them down with water to keep airborne dust from adding to visible smog. (Sweeping, of course, does not reduce carbon emissions.)
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In Tangshan this winter, factories will need to suspend production. They won’t be able to use the excuse that they had already powered down but residual fumes were still wafting: “For industries where air pollution may continue after production is halted, enterprises must leave sufficient time to adjust production,” the regulations state.
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Use of diesel trucks for transporting cargo will be suspended in Tangshan during the Olympics. Officials must decrease their car trips by 80 percent. All new municipal buses must be new-energy models.
One complication has been a global energy crunch. After many years of stable electricity supply, China is implementing rolling power outages to conserve fuel, while officials scrambled to secure more coal from neighboring countries.
Premier Li Keqiang made clear last month that while China wanted to reduce emissions, social stability came first. He criticized “campaign-style” carbon-reduction efforts and “one size fits all” production cuts in parts of the country.
“First, we must give priority to people’s livelihood, ensure the people’s livelihood and heating energy in winter, and ensure the use of coal for power generation and heating,” he said.
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The situation leaves local officials in a quandary this winter, as they face the conflicting demands of keeping the coal flowing while reducing air pollution.
Angel Hsu, a climate scientist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said China’s shift to green energy should become easier in coming years, as the country has scaled up solar-panel production enough to be cost-effective.
“It’s cheaper actually for China to build an entirely new power plant that is fueled by solar power than to continue to maintain a coal-fired power plant,” she said.
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For now, officials in Tangshan’s Fengrun district have been rushing to procure heat pumps — which are like reverse air conditioners — to help keep electricity costs manageable for residents in the switch from coal.
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In September, the district announced a rush order of 17,104 heat pumps at a cost of $16 million. The call for bids said they would be installed across several dozen villages in Fengrun.
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“When you’re talking about low-income rural households, you have to make sure there are affordable alternatives,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. “With direct electric heating, you’re going to be paying more. But if you install a heat pump, it’s much more energy efficient.”
In Fengrun’s Qishuzhuang village, officials gathered on Oct. 26 to review their marching orders, according to a summary posted on a government social media account.
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“Check and confiscate coal,” the officials were told. “Ensure that there is no trace of coal burning before the end of the month.”
Pei Lin Wu contributed to this report.
China can make or break a global climate deal. What will it be willing to give?
China’s overseas coal ban raises pressure on developing countries to go green
China’s power shortages, housing struggles put the brakes on its economy