A Chinese laborer works at an unauthorized steel factory on November 3, 2016 in Inner Mongolia, China. (Kevin Frayer / Getty Images)

As one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, China has been under criticism for their high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015, the country submitted a plan to the United Nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions that Greenpeace described as “”

Since the Paris Climate Change Conference, China has actually added new coal plants. However, in efforts to maintain their climate change pact, the country announced they were and phasing out the plants that are currently running.

Photojournalist Kevin Frayer recently traveled to a Chinese steel plant in Inner Mongolia that was . It is an example of a number of factories that continue to run without government authorization by paying “fines” to local inspectors who allow the continuing of coal production. China’s State Council recently confirmed in a statement that while this year’s targeted closures were basically completed, some firms continued to .

Despite being one of the world’s biggest polluters, China is also a global leader in establishing clean energy sources like wind and solar power. The country broke records with their 17 percent increase in investments of , according to the 2016 Frankfurt School of Finance report on Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment.

"All countries will if we're to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and reach a goal of net zero global warming emissions by mid-century," Alden Meyer, international director of the Union of Concerned Scientists said.

"But this is an important step forward that reinforces the U.S. and China's continued leadership in building a robust, durable international climate framework."