Northwest China's 'Energy Golden Triangle' is being targeted as part of a national strategy to concentrate large-scale energy industries in the region. Given its scarce rainfall and vegetation, it is ecologically fragile and susceptible to atmospheric pollution — a point that seems to have been overlooked in the scramble for long-term energy security.

A team at Lanzhou University has observed signs of water and soil contamination, and damage to the sparse local ecosystem by toxic substances from energy and chemical industries in the area (unpublished results). Sulfur dioxide pollution is increasing there and elsewhere in northwest China (Y. Shen et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 3, 275–279; 2016), whereas it has declined across the rest of China in the past decade.

We appeal to the government to undertake in-depth scientific assessments of the environmental consequences of energy activity and development in the region.