China is responsible for 51 per cent of all steelmaking carbon emissions. Chinese plants emit on average about two tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of steel produced. This year their expected output is 500 million tonnes. Experts warn the situation will get worse.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – China alone is responsible for about 51 per cent of all carbon emissions from steelmakers worldwide, making it the world’s worst polluter among steel-making nations, this according to a statement released on Tuesday in Berlin by the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) during its annual meeting. The industry group is funded by the world's biggest steel producers.

“There are inefficient sites in China,” said Corus Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Philippe Varin. “The newly industrialized countries must make sure they use the best technologies available,'' he added.

China emits more greenhouse gases than other nations because it uses less scrap to make steel, so it burns more coal in the process, IISI said; about two tons of carbon dioxide emitted for every ton of steel produced in a blast furnace.

Global steel production reached 1.26 billion metric tonnes in 2006. In China steel output might reach 500 million metric tonnes this year and double by 2010 to meet domestic demand.

The steel industry is the world's biggest polluter in terms of greenhouse gases after the chemical and cement industries.

But only 39 percent of the world's steel output is in countries that signed the Kyoto protocol cutting emissions.

“This [pollution] is likely to increase, rather than reduce, global greenhouse gas concentration,” the IISI said.

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