China’s climate goals have been given increasing prominence, and measures to improve local air quality levels have already had a significant impact on the steel industry. Will China’s new climate goals impact steel in the same way as local emissions controls? And will the impact be as deep? In the long term the global steel industry, China included, will need to invest huge sums of money in replacing equipment with low carbon technologies. In the short term however, the picture is less clear. In this issue we try to break down some of the impacts of China’s targets. China aims to reach peak carbon emissions in 2030 and net zero emissions by 2060. The steel sector however has been given its own targets of peak emissions by 2025 and net zero emissions by 2065. While the peak carbon target is sooner than the national target, it should be easy to achieve.