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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

What’s the mystery source of two potent greenhouse gases? The trail leads to Asia

Atmospheric levels of two powerful heat-trapping gases are rising quickly — and are higher than official emissions records suggest.
Employees walk through an aluminium smelting room

An aluminium smelter in Zouping, China. Two greenhouse gases whose atmospheric levels have soared in recent years have been traced to such smelters and to semiconductor factories in Japan and South Korea. Credit: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg/Getty

The powerful greenhouse gases tetrafluoromethane and hexafluoroethane have been building up in the atmosphere from unknown sources. Now, modelling suggests that China’s aluminium industry is a major culprit.

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Nature 596, 464 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02231-0

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