China's electricity network presents a paradox: it installs more wind and solar capacity than any other country, yet it is also the largest source of a super-pollutant that warms the planet far more effectively than carbon dioxide. The culprit is sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a synthetic gas used to insulate high-voltage equipment.
SF6 is prized for being invisible, odorless, non-poisonous, and non-flammable, which makes it an excellent electrical insulator. But those same qualities hide a severe climate problem: by mass, SF6 traps 24,300 times more heat than CO2, and once released it remains in the atmosphere for roughly a thousand years.
Because the gas has no color or smell, leaks from grid equipment can go unnoticed, making emissions hard to track. The Inside Climate News report points to China's grid as the dominant emitter of SF6, a less visible side of the country's energy transition that could undermine its climate gains if left unaddressed.