Three types of markets jointly promote the "dual carbon" goal
The transaction volume reached 7.935 billion kWh-not long ago, the green power trading pilot was officially launched, and the first batch of pilots were welcomed by power generation and power users.
With the introduction of the "dual carbon" goal, the consumption of green electricity has become the consensus of many market players.
In fact, in addition to green electricity trading, there are also green certificate trading markets and carbon emission trading markets in China.
What are these markets?
Why should these types of markets be established?
What is the connection between them?
Why are the three types of markets built?
——Realize energy saving and emission reduction, and promote the development of renewable energy
Mention the current hot words, "energy saving and emission reduction" positioning is on the list.
In order to improve the energy structure, protect the ecological environment, and respond to climate change, China has vigorously promoted the development of renewable energy in recent years, and the transition to green and low-carbon energy has achieved significant results.
Green certificate trading, green electricity trading and carbon emission rights trading are important market mechanisms for promoting energy green and low-carbon transformation.
Among the three types of markets, the earliest established is the voluntary subscription transaction for national green power certificates launched in 2017.
"The green power certificate is an electronic certificate with a unique identification code issued by the state for every MWh of non-aqueous renewable energy on-grid electricity generated by power generation companies. Certificate." Li Chengren, director of the Accounting and Auditing Institute of State Grid Energy Research Institute, told our reporter.
It is understood that in the early stage of the development of the new energy industry, its development and the power system's absorption mechanism were not fully matched, and the phenomenon of abandoning wind and light was prominent.
In addition, the early new energy industry relied heavily on financial subsidies.
The renewable energy industry continues to grow and develop, and the problem of excessive reliance on subsidies has also followed.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, as of the end of 2017, the national renewable energy subsidy gap has reached 100 billion yuan.
In order to promote the consumption of renewable energy and alleviate the difficulties of financial subsidies, green certificate transactions have emerged.
How to trade green certificates?
The reporter learned that at present, the main land-based wind power and photovoltaic power generation companies that have the qualification to sell green certificates.
Consumers who purchase green certificates include enterprises, institutions, government agencies, and individuals that have a demand for green electricity.
After the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center issues green certificates to power generation companies, manufacturers can sell the green certificates to consumers in need.
"Consumers buying green certificates represent their recognition of the environmental value of green power such as scenery and willingness to pay for the environmental value of green power. The more green certificates they buy, the more green power they consume." Li Chengren said.
At the same time, part of the electricity generated from the sale of green certificates will no longer be subsidized by the government.
While the green certificate manufacturers obtain benefits, they also effectively alleviate the financial pressure on government departments.
Like green certificate trading, the pilot green power trading launched not long ago also aims to promote green power consumption.
So, what is the difference between the two?
"The main difference is that the green certificate is an indirect proof of the consumption of green electricity, and the green electricity transaction is a direct proof." said Zeng Ming, director of the Energy Internet Research Center of North China Electric Power University.
In green power trading, users purchase wind power, photovoltaics and other new energy power through power trading, consume green power, and obtain the corresponding green certification. The environmental attributes of electricity and green certificates are unified.
In addition to electric energy substitution, in the process of energy transformation, it is also important to strengthen the control of energy consumption intensity.
The carbon emission trading market, which was officially launched for online trading in July this year, aims to motivate enterprises to control energy consumption, reduce emissions and reduce carbon through a market-based mechanism.
If a company has a carbon emission allowance of 5 million tons per year, and achieves energy saving and emission reduction in the production process, and the carbon emissions are only 3 million tons, then the remaining 2 million tons can be sold to other companies.
If the company's carbon emissions exceed the limit, it needs to spend money to buy the credit.
"Enterprises can calculate the amount of allowances they should get based on their emissions." Zhao Yingmin, deputy minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that the basis for allocation of allowances is carbon emissions-related data verified by the competent department of ecological environment.
Regarding the rationality of quota allocation, the current quotas are based on the industry benchmark law with intensity control as the basic idea, and free allocation is implemented.
Companies can participate in carbon emissions trading through agreement transfer, one-way bidding, etc.
Zhao Yingmin said that companies that need to purchase quotas to fulfill their contracts can also purchase lower-priced CCERs (National Certified Voluntary Emission Reductions) generated by entities such as renewable energy to offset the quotas.
Through this kind of transaction, new energy companies can realize their carbon dioxide emission reductions, which will effectively mobilize their enthusiasm for emission reduction.
Why are companies willing to pay?
——On the one hand, take the initiative to realize low-carbon transformation, on the other hand, complete hard consumption targets
3. How about market transactions?
According to the data released by China's green power certificate subscription trading platform, as of now, there are more than 3,700 subscribers nationwide, who have subscribed for more than 94,000 green certificates.
In terms of green power transactions, the data released by the National Development and Reform Commission showed that the first batch of green power transaction pilots reached a total of nearly 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Regarding carbon emissions trading, according to data released by the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, as of September, the cumulative transaction volume of carbon emission allowances in the national carbon market exceeded 17.6 million tons, and the cumulative transaction volume exceeded 800 million yuan.
The reporter learned that the price of green power is slightly higher than the mid- to long-term transaction price of local power. Green certificates and carbon emissions trading also require companies to pay a certain amount of cost.
In this case, why are companies willing to pay?
"With the introduction of the'dual carbon' goal, companies will face strict carbon emission limits. Not reducing carbon means that companies have to bear high emission costs. Therefore, companies have a demand for green electricity." Zeng Ming analyzed.
Li Chengren introduced that the consumption of green power is based on obligations on the one hand, that is, enterprises need to fulfill their emission reduction responsibilities and achieve green transformation.
On the other hand, the consumption of green energy is conducive to establishing the brand image of green enterprises and enhancing the competitiveness of products and services.
“At present, the low-carbon transition has reached a consensus on a global scale. The European Union and others have formulated measures such as carbon tariffs. The purchase of green power and the realization of carbon emission reduction have a positive impact on the export trade of enterprises. In this context, more companies are willing to buy green Electricity, forming a green label for product exports."
Regarding carbon emissions trading, according to the "Administrative Measures for Carbon Emission Trading (Trial)" issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, key emission units that falsely report or conceal their greenhouse gas emission reports, or refuse to perform their greenhouse gas emission reporting obligations, shall be ordered to make corrections within a specified period of time. A fine of 10,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan shall be imposed; if a key emission unit fails to pay the carbon emission allowances on time and in full, it shall be ordered to correct within a time limit and a fine of 20,000 yuan but not more than 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.
This means that companies that exceed carbon emissions must bear corresponding penalties.
Similarly, the reason why companies are willing to buy green energy, in addition to proactively realizing green transformation, also stems from the rigid requirements of consumption indicators.
In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Establishing and Improving the Guarantee Mechanism for Renewable Energy Power Consumption", proposing the weight of responsibility for renewable energy consumption according to the provincial administrative region's power consumption regulations.
Provide incentives to provincial administrative regions that have exceeded the weight of consumption responsibility, require market entities that have not fulfilled the weight of consumption responsibility to rectify within a time limit, and assess the "dual control" of the amount of renewable energy consumption and the total energy consumption and intensity of the country hook up.
How to complete the consumption?
According to the person in charge of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, the basic way for each market entity to complete the consumption is to actually consume renewable energy power, including renewable energy power purchased from power grid companies and power generation companies. As well as renewable energy for self-generated electricity.
In addition, market entities that bear the responsibility for consumption can complete the consumption by purchasing their excess renewable energy power consumption from market entities that have exceeded the annual consumption or by voluntarily subscribing to renewable energy power green power certificates. .
How are the three types of markets related?
——Build an effective connection between the three types of markets to avoid double counting of environmental benefits
What are the common goals of establishing the three types of markets?
What is the connection between them?
Liao Hua, deputy director of the Energy and Environmental Policy Research Center of Beijing Institute of Technology, told this reporter that the establishment of these three markets aims to apply market mechanisms to promote green and low-carbon development.
"One is to promote low-carbon transformation of industries or enterprises with lower costs; the other is to use price signals to guide the expectations of the whole society." Liao Hua analyzed that in terms of the difficulty of implementation, green electricity and green certificates are relatively simple and easy to implement, and have high transparency. , The supervision and restraint mechanism is strong, and the transaction cost is also low.
In terms of coverage, the potential coverage of the carbon emissions trading market is broader, including promoting the development of renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and guiding a wider range of industrial restructuring.
Speaking of the connection between the three markets, Fan Pengfei, deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Electric Power Planning and Design Institute, believes that green power trading plays the role of "glue" in these three markets, realizing the convergence, integration and coordination of market mechanisms work hard.
"In terms of the connection between green power trading and green certificates, the national energy authority organizes the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center to issue green certificates and transfer them to the power trading center. The power trading center allocates the green certificates to power users based on the results of the green power transactions; Regarding the connection of green power trading and carbon trading mechanisms, we will study the establishment of a connection between the green power trading market and the carbon market through mechanisms such as CCER, so as to prevent electricity users from repeatedly paying environmental fees in the power market and carbon market.” Fan Pengfei said.
The launch of the green electricity trading pilot program also provided a transformation direction for the positioning of the green certificate.
"During the '13th Five-Year Plan' period, China's green certificate is positioned as an alternative to national renewable energy tariff subsidies. This positioning leads to higher green certificate prices, which in turn leads to slow progress in voluntary green certificate subscription market transactions." Researcher, Energy Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission According to Shi Jingli's analysis, entering the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, major renewable energy sources such as wind and solar will achieve full-scale non-subsidy and parity on the grid, and there is no need for green card replacement subsidies for new projects.
With the increasing demand for green certificates on the power consumer side, it is urgent to shift the positioning of green certificates from replacing electricity price subsidies to promoting green electricity consumption.
In the future, on the basis of ensuring the stable operation of various markets, what other means can be used to achieve the effective convergence of the three types of markets?
Li Chengren said: “As a green power attribute mark for renewable energy power generation, the green certificate is a natural and very accurate measure of carbon dioxide emission reduction, which can form a connection with the carbon emission reduction trading system.” He also suggested that information should also be provided. The exchange and sharing of green certificate transactions, completion of quota indicators, and renewable energy subsidy information between the center and the power trading center.
This requires full consideration of the mutual influence between systems when formulating quota indicators and total carbon emissions.
"To do a good job in deep integration and reasonable connection between various markets is essential for giving full play to the guiding role of price signals, giving full play to the role of market resource allocation, improving energy efficiency, and scientifically and efficiently achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality." Pengfei said that the environment and structure where multiple market mechanisms coexist will effectively promote the implementation and fulfillment of the "dual carbon" goal.
Liao Ruiling