China postpones a central climate target

Beijing A huge, brown-black crater opens up. Somewhere on its edge, far in the distance, there are dozens of high-rise buildings – in the face of the gorge they seem like miniatures standing on the precipice. The “West Open Pit” mine in China’s north-eastern province of Liaoning is six kilometers long and up to three kilometers wide.

Until recently, the open-pit mine was the largest in Asia, but it has been officially closed since 2019. The metropolis of Fushun, which has a population of 2.1 million, has developed around the mine. Its destiny is so closely linked to the raw material that it has been dubbed “China’s coal capital”. “Fushun is the city founded for coal,” reads a sign in the local coal museum.

It was mines like these that made China’s rapid economic growth possible. The simple calculation: Thanks to cheap coal, electricity, steel and cement can be produced at low cost, which in turn drives the construction industry to new growth spurts.