The first day of institutional innovation to promote green and low-carbon development exceeded 210 million yuan
The world's largest carbon market opens
Our reporter Xue Peng
online!
On July 16, the national carbon emissions trading market officially opened.
More than 2,000 power generation companies, which account for more than 40% of the country’s carbon emissions, entered the market as the first trading entities.
On the first day, the average transaction price was 51.23 yuan/ton, the transaction volume was 4,104,400 tons, and the transaction volume exceeded 210 million yuan.
It is understood that the carbon emission rights trading market uses price signals to guide the optimal allocation of carbon emission reduction resources, thereby reducing the emission reduction costs of the whole society, promoting investment in green and low-carbon industries, and guiding capital flows.
Zhao Yingmin, deputy minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the establishment of a national carbon emission trading market is a major institutional innovation to use market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development. It is important for achieving carbon peaks and carbon neutrality. Policy tools.
What is the relationship between the national carbon emissions trading market and carbon peak and carbon neutrality?
What impact will the national carbon market launch on the realization of high-quality development?
The reporter conducted an interview.
1 The national carbon emissions trading market is an important policy tool for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality
On September 22, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly declared at the 75th United Nations General Assembly that China will increase its nationally determined contributions, adopt more powerful policies and measures, and strive to reach its peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and strive for 2060. Achieve carbon neutrality years ago.
"Carbon peak" refers to the peak reached when the total carbon emissions enters the plateau period, by allowing the carbon dioxide emissions to "break the balance" and begin to enter a steady decline phase.
"Carbon neutrality" refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced directly or indirectly by enterprises, groups or individuals within a certain period of time, offsetting their own carbon dioxide emissions through afforestation, energy saving and emission reduction, carbon capture and carbon collection, etc. , To achieve "zero emission" of carbon dioxide.
Practice at home and abroad shows that the carbon market is a policy tool to achieve specific emission reduction targets at a lower cost.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has attached great importance to the construction of the national carbon market.
In November 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to establish a national carbon emissions trading market as an important measure to address climate change at the opening ceremony of the Paris Climate Change Conference.
On April 22 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the leaders’ climate summit that China will launch online trading on the national carbon market.
The "Measures for the Management of Carbon Emissions Trading (for Trial Implementation)" that came into effect on February 1 this year stipulates that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment shall formulate a total carbon emission allowance determination and allocation plan. The allocation of carbon emission allowances is mainly free, which can be based on relevant national requirements. Introduce paid distribution at an appropriate time; the trading product of the national carbon emission trading market is carbon emission quota; the key greenhouse gas emission units and institutions and individuals that comply with the relevant national trading rules are the trading subjects of the national carbon emission trading market.
"Compared with traditional administrative management methods, the carbon market can not only consolidate the responsibility of greenhouse gas emission control to enterprises, but also provide corresponding economic incentives for carbon emission reduction, reduce the emission reduction costs of the whole society, and promote green technology innovation. And industrial investment provides an effective tool for dealing with the relationship between economic development and carbon emission reduction." Zhao Yingmin said.
From a practical point of view, carbon emission trading rights can avoid excessive fluctuations in energy conservation and emission reduction for certain enterprises and industries, and it is also conducive to the gradual advancement of carbon emission targets.
In addition, through the establishment of a national carbon market offset mechanism, it can promote the increase of forestry carbon sinks, promote the development of renewable energy, assist regional coordinated development and ecological protection compensation, and advocate green and low-carbon production and consumption methods.
Relying on the national carbon market, it can provide investment and financing channels for industry and regional green and low-carbon development transformation, and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
"The role and significance of the national carbon market for China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality are very important." Zhao Yingmin said at the State Council policy briefing on the national carbon emissions trading market on-line trading held a few days ago.
2 From pilot projects in seven provinces and cities to unified national trading, ten years of exploration to promote the increasingly complete carbon market trading conditions
"Three gongs at the same time!" The kick-off ceremony held on the morning of July 16 was held in Beijing, Hubei and Shanghai at the same time in accordance with the overall structure of "one master and two assistants".
The national carbon emissions trading market trading center is located in Shanghai, the carbon allowance registration system is located in Wuhan, and companies register accounts in Hubei and conduct transactions in Shanghai. The two jointly assume the pillar role of the national carbon trading system.
Beijing's proposal to build a national voluntary emission reduction management and trading center is an important supplement to the national carbon market.
In fact, the online trading of the national carbon market is inseparable from the pilot experience of the previous decade.
In October 2011, 7 provinces and cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong, Hubei, and Shenzhen launched local pilot projects for carbon emissions trading.
Since 2013, 7 local pilot carbon markets have started online trading. According to data, as of June 2021, the pilot provinces and cities have covered nearly 3,000 key emission units in more than 20 industries, including electricity, steel, and cement, and accumulated quotas. The transaction volume is 480 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and the transaction volume is about 11.4 billion yuan.
"After years of development, we have made positive progress and accumulated experience for the construction of the national carbon market." Li Gao, Director of the Department of Climate Change Response of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced the results in two aspects. The compliance rate of key emission units has maintained a high level. The total amount and intensity of carbon emissions within the coverage area have been reduced, which is conducive to promoting the reduction of corporate greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the awareness of low-carbon development in all sectors of society, and accumulating valuable experience for the construction of the national carbon market.
The operation of the carbon emission trading market has the characteristics of multiple operations, strong regulatory requirements, and high professional requirements. Therefore, it must be carried out on the track of the rule of law.
With the deepening of the pilot, including the "Regulations for Carbon Emissions Trading Management (Trial)," "Regulations for the Registration and Management of Carbon Emissions (Trial)", "Regulations for the Settlement and Management of Carbon Emissions (Trial)," and other regulations, the registration and trading of carbon emissions A series of related laws and regulations, transaction and supervision systems are gradually being established and perfected in the exploration, such as management systems such as settlement and settlement, as well as technical specifications such as corporate greenhouse gas emission accounting and verification.
"After years of piloting, we have a clearer grasp of the legislation, policies, and supervision of the carbon emission trading market and the issues and issues. On this basis, the further promotion of this mechanism is conducive to further market-based implementation. The goal of carbon reduction is to realize the optimal allocation of carbon rights in a low-cost way." Dong Zhanfeng, a researcher at the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told reporters.
Li Gao said that in the future, under the leadership of management measures, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will also formulate and release regulatory documents on greenhouse gas accounting reports and verification, carbon emission rights registration and transaction settlement, and jointly build the basic institutional framework for the national carbon market.
3 The carbon market takes the power generation industry as a breakthrough, and expands the coverage of the industry after running-in, perfection, stability and healthy operation
At 9:30 on July 16, the first national carbon transaction was successfully matched, with a price of 52.78 yuan per ton. A total of 160,000 tons were traded, with a transaction volume of 7.9 million yuan.
On January 5 this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the "Administrative Measures for Carbon Emission Trading (Trial)", and issued supporting allowance allocation plans and a list of key emission units.
At present, the pre-allocated amount for the first compliance cycle of the national carbon market has been issued, involving more than 2,000 key emission units in the power generation industry, and the final approved quota and covering greenhouse gas emissions exceeded 4 billion tons.
Why choose the power generation industry as a breakthrough?
When will other key industries be included in the carbon market?
What are the criteria for determining key greenhouse gas emission units?
According to the Regulations for the Management of Carbon Emissions Trading (for Trial Implementation), as an industry covered by the national carbon emission trading market, greenhouse gas emission units with annual greenhouse gas emissions of 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent should be listed as key greenhouse gas emission units.
Among them, the power generation industry has relatively large carbon emissions. From the perspective of international experience, it is the industry that the carbon market of various countries prefers to be included.
In addition, due to the single product of the power generation industry, complete emission data measurement facilities, the entire industry has a high degree of automated management, the data management is standardized and easy to verify, and the allocation of allowances is simple and easy.
“The management system of the power generation industry is relatively sound, and the data foundation is relatively good. For transactions, we must first have accurate data. Accurate and effective acquisition of emissions data is a prerequisite for carbon market trading.” Zhao Yingmin introduced.
In the view of Gao Chaochao, associate professor of the School of Environment and Resources at Zhejiang University, an important step to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality is to break the lock-in relationship between energy consumption and carbon emissions, and to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. achieve.
The carbon market uses price signals to guide the optimal allocation of carbon emission reduction resources, thereby reducing the emission reduction costs of the whole society, promoting investment in green and low-carbon industries, and guiding capital flows.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period and window period for carbon peaks. Building a mature and complete carbon market is an important path for achieving carbon peaks and carbon neutrality.
As the power generation industry is included in the carbon market to promote green and low-carbon development, high-emission industries such as petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, steel, non-ferrous metals, papermaking, and aviation may all be included in the national carbon trading market.
It is understood that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has now commissioned relevant scientific research units and industry associations to study and propose relevant industry standards and technical specifications that meet the requirements of the national carbon market.
"In the next step, we will speed up the revision of the national standards for the accounting and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in related industries in accordance with the principle of maturity, approval and publication, and study and formulate allowance allocation schemes for different industries. After the healthy operation of the carbon market in the power generation industry, we will further expand the carbon market. The market covers the scope of the industry and gives full play to the important role of the market mechanism in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, promoting green and low-carbon technological innovation, and guiding climate investment and financing." Zhao Yingmin said.
4 The launch of China’s carbon market for online trading is an important step in global climate action
With the online trading of my country's carbon market, the carbon emissions of companies included in the first batch of carbon markets have exceeded 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
This means that once China's carbon emissions trading market is launched, it has become the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions.
As an important step in global climate action, China's actions have received great attention and expectations both at home and abroad.
At a regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 16, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that this is a major move by China to promote industry emissions reductions through market measures.
This will add new impetus and confidence to global cooperation in addressing climate change, and will also provide reference for other countries and regions in the world.
According to a report by the World Bank, there are currently 61 regions, countries or regions in the world that have carbon pricing mechanisms, of which 31 are carbon emission trading mechanisms and 30 are carbon tax systems.
Carbon prices are all determined by their respective market transactions, and there is basically no significant carbon price impact between each other.
From the proposal of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee to accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development, to the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year that carbon peaking and carbon neutrality were the key tasks of this year, to including the launch of the national carbon emissions trading market. A series of major measures have been implemented, and a series of actions have embodied China's responsibility based on promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.
"China actively implements a national strategy to address climate change, vigorously promotes the construction of a clean and low-carbon energy system, accelerates the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure, builds a green transportation system, improves the low-carbon development policy system, etc., and has developed a green and low-carbon development in line with China's national conditions. Road, achieved unprecedented achievements." Dong Zhanfeng said.
Data show that from 2005 to 2020, China's GDP has increased by about 4.5 times, and its carbon intensity has dropped by 48.4% over the same period. The proportion of non-fossil energy has increased from 7.4% to 15.9%, and significant achievements have been made in tackling climate change.
"Entering a new stage of development, we have resolutely proposed to achieve carbon peaks and carbon neutrality, and the time to achieve the goal is much shorter than that of developed countries. In fact, it is a very stressful challenge." Dong Zhanfeng said. Achieving the transition from high-carbon development to low-carbon development in a short period of time is a profound change, which embodies the strong determination of the Party Central Committee to promote high-quality development, and also demonstrates the demeanor of a big country with commitment and courage.
Actively respond to climate change, promote the sustainable development of the world, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. While promoting the online trading of the carbon market, we are also actively carrying out international cooperation in related work.
According to Zhao Yingmin, my country is currently actively advancing the negotiation process of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and promoting the establishment of a global carbon market mechanism under the Paris Agreement.
Actively advocate that all countries abide by the principles of fairness, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities stipulated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adhere to multilateralism, join hands in tackling climate change, and encourage and help parties in need to carry out activities including Climate change mitigation and adaptation actions, including the carbon market, guide the healthy development of global climate action.
"In this process, we must particularly oppose and avoid unilateralism and unilateral actions that undermine the current hard-won international climate change cooperation atmosphere, so as to maintain the momentum of global climate governance and move forward." Zhao Yingmin said.