Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
projects approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),
3,563 projects registered and 1,227 projects issued by the EB. Project types are mainly
new and renewable energy, energy saving and efficiency and CH
4
recovery, etc. China
has also developed some voluntary emission reduction projects but small in respect of
quantity and scale. Voluntary emission reduction market is still in its infancy. By the
second half of 2008, China has set up three carbon exchanges, i.e. Tianjin Climate
Exchange, China-Beijing Environmental Exchange and Shanghai Environment and
Energy Exchange. Afterwards, other provinces also started to set up exchanges.
According to the incomplete statistics, there are currently almost 30 emission
exchanges that have been established in China, which have achieved initial results.
We can get the following four lessons with respect to the construction of Chinese
carbon market from international experience: (a) carbon market promotes the develop-
ment of low-carbon industry; (b) the role of government is key to carbon market
development; (c) emission reduction targets as well as allocation schemes should be
scientific and reasonable; (d) the launch of futures trading can stabilize carbon emission
price; (e) a sound legal system is the basis for carbon market construction.
To implement the general spirit of carbon market construction during the “12th
Five-Year Plan” period combining China's actual condition, this report proposes
the following suggestions: (a) publish nationally unified MRV methodologies for
GHG emission as soon as possible; (b) accelerate the establishment of nationally
unified register platform for carbon emissions allowances and carbon emission
reductions; (c) accelerate the establishment of GHG emission reporting system
for enterprises, vigorously promote the carbon accounting work, set up and perfect
carbon emission data base; (d) actively improve relevant legal system for carbon
market. Carbon accounting and carbon emission data base provides scientific and
reliable data support for the setup and allocation of emission allowances as well as
the boost of energy saving and emission reduction; (e) actively improve relevant
legal regulations for carbon market.
Since the second half of the twentieth century, the increasing contradictions
between industrialization and environmental protection as well as the urgent need
to tackle climate change, which have stressed the ability of China's traditional
administrative management mode of command and control to deal with cost,
efficiency and other problems. In recent years, there has been an international
trend to use an emissions trading mechanism (cap-and-trade) to promote energy
saving and reduce emissions.
A carbon emissions trading, or carbon trading, refers to the kind of emissions
trading that take GHG as exchange-traded products by means of market mechanism
in accordance with international conventions. The unit of account is CO
2
equivalent
(tCO
2
e) per ton. Carbon trading works by setting an overall emissions target, which
determines the cap of emissions allowances. Emission allowances are then
allocated free of cost or via auction in the primary market to covered emitters.
This system reveals supply and demand information regarding to the monitoring
reporting and verification (MRV) system, and it also realizes the commercialization
of environmental resources by way of a fair and reliable trading platform and a
