kevin frayer's photos of an illegal coal-fired steel factory in inner mongolia

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A labourer stands near a furnace as he works at an unauthorised steel factory in Inner Mongolia, China.

Kevin Frayer's Photos of an Illegal Coal-Fired Steel Factory in Inner Mongolia

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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Chinese authorities are pushing to shut down privately owned coal-fired steel factories scattered across rural

areas in an effort to meet carbon dioxide emissions targets. However, many factory owners say they pay

informal "fines" to local inspectors and then re-open. Award-winning Getty Images photojournalist Kevin

Frayer visited one of these unauthorised steel plants in Inner Mongolia.

China, which accounts for almost 30 per cent of global carbon pollution, pledged to peak its emissions around

2030 as part of the climate pact adopted in Paris last year. Many analysts say China's peak is likely to come

much earlier – and may already have occurred. Environmental officials in Beijing said that a key indicator of

poor air quality – the density of the particulate matter PM2.5 – decreased in the first 10 months of 2016 year-

on-year.

The environmental campaign group Greenpeace East Asia reported that levels of the heavy metals arsenic,

cadmium and lead in the PM2.5 in Beijing had fallen rapidly since 2013. It said the decline was directly linked to

the closure of coal-fired power plants around the city.

-- IBT

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Smoke billows from a large steel plant in the background as a labourer works at an unauthorised steel factory in the foreground


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A labourer stands near a furnace as he works at an unauthorised steel factory in Inner Mongolia, China


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A loads coal into a furnace at an unauthorised steel plant


6A furnace is reflected in a labourer‘s glasses


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Sparks fly as a labourer loads coal into an outdoor furnace


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A labourer stands near a furnace at an illegal steel factory


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A labourer loads coal into a furnace


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A labourer pours steel as fire is seen in a cooling pit at an unauthorised steel factory


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A labourer works at an unauthorised steel factory


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A labourer stands next to a cooling pit at an unauthorised steel factory


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Labourers walk past smoke and steam rising from a cooling pit and furnace


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Waste molten steel is seen in a cooling pit at an unauthorised steel factory


15Labourers work as smoke and steam rises from an unauthorised steel factory


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Molten steel runs down a channel at an unlicensed steel factory


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A labourer pours hot steel at an unauthorised factory


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A labourer rests as he sits next to red hot steel


19A labourer pours molten steel as another looks on at an unauthorised steel factory


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A worker lifts steel ingots out of their moulds


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A labourer smokes as he takes a break at an unauthorised steel factory


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A labourer smokes as he takes a break


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Hot waste coal is dumped outside an unauthorised steel plant


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Steam and smoke rises from waste coal dumped next to an unauthorised steel factory


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A laborer works at the plant while a pool of waste molten steel cools

November 29, 2016 王文堯 Kaohsiung Taiwan R.O.C All photos were taken from IBT, National Geographic.

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THE END© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

kevin frayer's photos of an illegal coal-fired steel factory in inner mongolia

Art & Photos