China News Agency, Beijing, July 16th: The national carbon market has entered a critical period. Authoritative people analyze the current hot spots
China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin
July 16 marked the first anniversary of the launch of the national carbon market. At present, the national carbon market has entered a critical period of construction and development. Focusing on the current focus of the national carbon market construction, as well as the development direction and challenges of the carbon market construction in the future, the relevant person in charge of the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China recently accepted an interview with a reporter from China News Agency.
The national carbon emission trading market is a major institutional innovation that uses market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development. On July 16, 2021, the online trading of the national carbon market was officially launched.
As of July 15, 2022, the cumulative transaction volume of carbon emission allowances (CEAs) in the national carbon market was 194 million tons, and the cumulative transaction value was 8.492 billion yuan (RMB, the same below). The closing price of the day was 58.24 yuan, up 21.33% from the opening price on the first day of the launch.
The relevant person in charge of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said that since the launch of the national carbon market, the overall operation has been stable, and the transaction price has fluctuated within the range of 40 yuan to 60 yuan per ton. demand, in line with the expectations of the carbon market as a policy tool for emission reductions.
He said that in the first compliance cycle of the national carbon market, 8.65 billion tons of allowances were cleared, and the compliance rate of allowances was 99.5%. Through the market mechanism, for the first time, the responsibility of carbon emission reduction has been implemented to enterprises nationwide, which has promoted enterprises to implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation, and promoted the realization of low-carbon transformation. At the same time, through the establishment of the offset mechanism, the development of emission reduction projects such as renewable energy has been promoted, and the emission reduction cost of emission control enterprises has been reduced.
“The national carbon market is not only a policy tool for China to control greenhouse gas emissions, but also plays an active role in promoting the formation of a global carbon pricing mechanism,” said the person in charge. effect.
The person in charge admitted that building a national carbon market is a complex and systematic project. As a new thing still in its infancy, the national carbon market still has some problems and challenges. First, the role of the market mechanism has not been fully exerted. The first compliance cycle of the national carbon market is only included in the power generation industry, and the trading method is limited to spot trading of allowances by emission control companies, which is not conducive to an active market.
Second, the quality of emission data needs to be improved. The institutional mechanisms related to the carbon market need to be further improved.
The person in charge said that after the operation and management of the first compliance cycle, the national carbon market has entered a critical period of construction and development, but there is still a long way to go to improve the work related to the national carbon market. At present, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment is studying and formulating a quota allocation plan for the second performance cycle. All localities shall, in accordance with relevant requirements, determine the pre-allocated quota amount for each unit within the administrative region that is included in quota management.
At the same time, on the basis of the good operation of the spot market for quotas in the power generation industry, the study will gradually expand the market coverage to more high-emission industries, and enrich the trading varieties and trading methods.
“In order to make the basic preparations for expanding the coverage of the national carbon market, we have carried out carbon emission data accounting, reporting and verification in high-emitting industries such as iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, petrochemicals, chemicals, papermaking and aviation for many years. From 2013 to 2020, the carbon emission database of the above-mentioned industries and enterprises will be studied and revised in terms of technical specifications for accounting and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in related industries,” said the person in charge.
In the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will comprehensively consider the economic and social development situation, and on the basis of improving the technical specifications for the verification of industry greenhouse gas emission accounting reports and ensuring that data quality management is feasible, comparable, and reliable, one mature industry will be incorporated into another industry.
The person in charge said that the voluntary emission reduction trading mechanism is an important part of the national carbon market, and it is also another important institutional innovation to use the market mechanism to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the wide participation of the whole society in emission reduction actions. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will gradually expand the coverage and accelerate the establishment of a voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading mechanism in accordance with the principle of step-by-step. (Finish)
(Editor in charge: Han Lu)