Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Accelerate the establishment and improvement of the national carbon market system
Release time:
2018-10-26
Zhuang Guotai, deputy minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at the mobilization and deployment meeting for the power generation industry to participate in the national carbon emissions trading market held on September 5 that the next step is to accelerate the establishment and improvement of the national carbon market system. Promote the promulgation of national carbon emissions trading management regulations, and timely release important supporting management systems such as corporate emission reporting management methods, market transaction management methods, and verification agency management methods.
He said that it is also necessary to promote the reform of the greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading mechanism, create conditions, and incorporate state-certified voluntary emission reductions into the national carbon market as soon as possible, so as to give full play to the supporting role of market mechanisms in forestry carbon sinks and other fields.
The national carbon emissions trading system was officially launched on December 19 last year, and the "National Carbon Emissions Trading Market Construction Plan (Power Generation Industry)" was released at the same time. In April this year, the functions of addressing climate change were transferred from the National Development and Reform Commission to the newly established Ministry of Ecology and Environment. This mobilization and deployment meeting will be the first national carbon market work conference jointly attended by local environmental protection departments and development and reform departments since the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has become the national department responsible for addressing climate change.
Zhuang Guotai said that the power generation industry will be used as a breakthrough to take the lead in conducting transactions across the country, gradually expand the scope of industries and trading entities participating in the carbon market, increase transaction types, increase market activity, and at the same time prevent excessive speculation and excessive financialization, and effectively prevent financial and other risks, and give full play to the role of the carbon market in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the cost of emission reduction for the whole society.
At the end of 2011, my country approved the launch of carbon emissions trading pilot projects in seven provinces and cities: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Hubei, and Chongqing. These pilot projects include electric power, steel, cement and other industries, with nearly 3,000 key emission units. Public information shows that as of September 2017, the cumulative quota trading volume of the pilot has reached 197 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, approximately 4.5 billion yuan. The total amount and intensity of carbon emissions within the pilot scope have shown a downward trend.
Caitong Securities researchers believe that the total carbon dioxide emissions in the power industry that are included in the national carbon emissions trading market are expected to be 3,500 tons, accounting for 74% of the total emissions in the industry. Since the industry's carbon dioxide emissions account for a large proportion of the country's total emissions, even if the national carbon emissions trading market only includes the electric power industry in the first batch, the carbon dioxide emissions covered by the carbon market will account for 39% of the country's total emissions.
In his view, in the field of carbon trading, investors should first pay attention to listed companies that participate in carbon exchanges. Such companies directly benefit from charging transaction fees, trading financial innovation, etc. The second is listed companies that provide energy-saving renovation services. These companies help companies save energy and reduce emissions and reduce carbon emission costs. The third is cleaner production enterprises, which benefit from developing and selling CCER through low-carbon production. The fourth is clean energy. As the carbon trading market matures, the low-carbon economy will be strengthened, which will benefit wind power, photovoltaic, and solar thermal enterprises. The fifth is the field of flue gas management.