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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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A loads coal into a furnace at an unauthorised steel plant

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

6A furnace is reflected in a labourer‘s glasses

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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Sparks fly as a labourer loads coal into an outdoor furnace

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer stands near a furnace at an illegal steel factory

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer loads coal into a furnace

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer works at an unauthorised steel factory

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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Molten steel runs down a channel at an unlicensed steel factory

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer pours hot steel at an unauthorised factory

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer rests as he sits next to red hot steel

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A worker lifts steel ingots out of their moulds

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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A labourer smokes as he takes a break

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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Hot waste coal is dumped outside an unauthorised steel plant

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

25© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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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.

Music : Two Steps From Hell - No Honor in Blood

THE END© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images