China’s national carbon trading scheme marks one-year anniversary, with analysts expecting stricter regulation and data monitoring ahead
- China’s national ETS regulates 2,162 companies from power generation sector, which together emit around 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually
- Big challenges for the national ETS currently are data quality and measurement, reporting and verification issues, say analysts
China’s national carbon emissions exchange, the world’s largest carbon market covering one-seventh of global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, marked its one-year anniversary on Saturday.
The carbon price in the national emissions trading scheme (ETS) closed at 58.24 yuan per tonne on Friday, compared to 51.23 yuan per tonne on its first trading day on July 16 last year. Total trading volumes reached 8.49 billion yuan, with 194 million tonnes of emissions transacted as of Friday, according to the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, the department that oversees the national ETS.
Strengthening the quality of data monitoring and management regarding emissions was also highlighted by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) at a meeting on Wednesday. The national carbon market has “achieved positive results and established a preliminary scientific and effective system”, said MEE officials on Wednesday.
Officially launched on July 16, 2021, the national ETS is considered a major tool for China, the world’s largest emitter, to gradually reduce carbon emissions and achieve its targets to meet carbon neutrality by 2060.
Currently, China’s national ETS regulates 2,162 companies from the country’s power generation sector which together emit around 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, making it the biggest carbon market in the world, according to MEE.
