SHANGHAI, July 17(ABC): China’s national carbon market saw its total trading volume reach 194 million tonnes since its launch one year ago, according to the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) statistics on Saturday.
Experts noted that the market, the world’s largest in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions covered, is expected to include more enterprises from emission-intensive sectors and see increasingly active trading as companies improve green awareness.
The national carbon market was launched on July 16, 2021, as an important scheme for China to reduce its carbon footprint and meet emissions targets — it aims to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
Carbon trading is the process of buying and selling permits to emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases, and is restricted to designated emitters who have such rights. Over the past year, the carbon market has run smoothly overall with a slight increase in trading prices, noted Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin at the China International Carbon Trading Conference held Saturday in Shanghai.
The carbon price opened at 48 yuan (7.1 U.S. dollars) per tonne on the first trading day and is around 60 yuan per tonne recently. The market in the first year includes 2,162 power-generating enterprises, covering about 4.5 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. The market wrapped up its first compliance period on December 31, 2021, with the compliance rate reaching 99.5 percent.