Link: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24102026/sf6-climate-super-pollutant-surges-in-beijing/

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Climate pollutant concentrations in the Beijing region of northern China have plateaued or begun to decline—except for the world’s most potent greenhouse gas, new research concludes.

The findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, suggest a decades-long effort to clean Beijing’s air is beginning to pay off. But while it cites progress, the research also highlights a growing climate challenge, driven by the region’s surging electricity demand and the explosive growth of semiconductor manufacturing amid the AI boom.

Sulfur hexafluoride—known as SF6—is 24,300 times more effective at warming Earth’s atmosphere, pound for pound, than carbon dioxide, the leading driver of climate change. The synthetic gas is widely used as an electrical insulator in high-voltage equipment, making the power sector a key source of concern as electricity infrastructure expands. While SF6 emissions are declining in other parts of the world, they are rapidly rising in China, which accounts for more than half of global releases.

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The country’s state-owned electric power companies recycle only about 30 percent of the gas they discard each year, with the remainder likely released into the atmosphere, a recent Inside Climate News analysis concluded.

The study, by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing, [...] found that semiconductor manufacturing, where the gas is used for etching and cleaning, is another fast-growing source of SF6 emissions in the Beijing region.

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Artificial Intelligence, or AI, could fuel rising SF6 emissions by increasing semiconductor chip manufacturing and continuing the region’s power-grid buildout. The Beijing Municipal Committee is a government advisory body overseen by the Chinese Communist Party. The institute’s press release announcing the policy report’s adoption came less than a week after the study was published.

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The semiconductor industry can rein that in. Among the options: optimizing production, using alternative fluorine sources and destroying waste gas.

From 1996 to 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partnered with manufacturers in a voluntary effort to reduce emissions of SF6 and other fluorinated greenhouse gases.

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The World Semiconductor Council, which represents industry associations in China, Taiwan, Europe, Japan, Korea and the United States, committed in June to continue gradually reducing the emissions intensity of SF6 and other climate super-pollutants in its products.

However, Avipsa Mahapatra, climate campaign director for the Environmental Investigation Agency US, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., argued the current study exposes a blind spot in decarbonization policies.

“Whatever measures currently exist are not yet bending the SF6 curve,” Mahapatra said.

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