China is targeting the launch of a national emissions trading scheme during 2021-2025, said the head of the environment ministry’s climate change office in a briefing, Wednesday.
The 14th five-year plan is a big development period for the establishment of carbon trading,
…Li Gao was quoted as saying.
This signals another delay for the long-awaited carbon trading platform, whose first phase covering the power sector was expected to launch this year. However, technical problems on the accuracy of emissions data have dogged the scheme so far, Reuters reported.
The national trading system was originally pledged by President Xi Jinping ahead of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Later, in 2017, China announced the launch of the national ETS, designed to include all major industrial sectors, but relevant regulations have yet to be issued.
Once the power sector starts trading, China’s national scheme is expected to overtake that of the EU as the world’s largest carbon trading scheme.
China’s carbon market is expected to expand from single sector to multiple industries, Li noted, adding that the ministry was still revising the draft plan of emission allowance allocations, which had been modified to reflect the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, following feedback from local government and electricity generators.
