
TANGSHAN, China -- In China, when top party officials set a goal, everybody follows. Beijing's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 has sent local officials scrambling to cut emissions, causing upheaval at steelmakers, with facility closures resulting in massive layoffs.
HBIS Group, the nation's No. 2 steelmaker, shut down its works in Tangshan in Hebei Province that had employed upward of 4,000 workers and ran three blast furnaces last December. Authorities said it lacked proper measures to limit pollution.