In Jiaxing, a manufacturing town on the outskirts of Shanghai, 400 steel industry executives and engineers gathered last November to tackle an enormous task: weaning the world’s biggest steel producer off coal-fired blast furnaces.

The subject is of burning political urgency. The Chinese government is trying to decarbonise a sector that relies heavily on coal — and quickly — or risk losing its dominance as countries with ambitious climate goals look elsewhere.

The source of China’s predicament can be traced to Europe where the EU — one of its key export markets — has imposed the world’s first ever tax on emissions of carbon-intensive imports starting with cement, iron, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity, hydrogen and, of course, steel. The levy will come into force in 2026, but the transition is already under way.