On February 26, the State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the policy to introduce the "Interim Regulations on the Administration of Carbon Emission Trading". According to Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, by the end of last year, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emission trading market had reached 4400 million tons, with a turnover of about 24.9 billion yuan, covering about 5.1 billion tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions, and 2,257 key emitting enterprises are included, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions.
The construction of a unified national carbon market is a major institutional innovation to promote the green and low-carbon development of China's economy and society. China's carbon market is composed of the national carbon emission trading market, that is, the mandatory carbon market, and the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market, that is, the voluntary carbon market.
In July 2021, the national carbon emission trading was officially launched. Since the launch of the national mandatory carbon market for two and a half years, the overall operation has been stable, the system and norms have been improved, the market activity has gradually improved, the quality of carbon emission data has been comprehensively improved, the carbon emission management capacity has been significantly improved, and the role of the discovery mechanism has become increasingly apparent. At present, the national carbon emission trading market covers about 5.1 billion tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions, and 2,257 key emitting enterprises are included, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions.
At present, the national carbon emission trading market has successfully completed the two compliance cycles of 2019-2020 and the year, and achieved the expected construction goals. Zhao Yingmin said that compared with the first compliance cycle, the market activity in the second compliance cycle has increased significantly. By the end of last year, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emission trading market reached 4400 million tons, with a turnover of about 24.9 billion yuan. The second compliance cycle saw a 19% increase in volume and an 89% increase in turnover over the first one. At the same time, the overall carbon price has shown a stable trend, from 48 yuan per ton at the start to about 80 yuan per ton, about 66%. The enthusiasm of enterprises participating in transactions in the second compliance cycle has increased significantly, accounting for 82% of the total number of enterprises participating in the transaction, which is nearly 50% higher than that of the first compliance cycle.
Zhao Yingmin said that the purpose of the voluntary emission reduction trading market is to encourage all kinds of entities to voluntarily take additional greenhouse gas emission reduction actions, and the emission reduction effect is quantified and verified by scientific methods, and then through the market, so as to obtain the corresponding emission reduction contribution benefits. The voluntary emission reduction trading market will mobilize a wider range of industry enterprises to carry out greenhouse gas emission reduction actions independently and voluntarily, which will create huge green market opportunities and drive the whole society to participate in green and low-carbon development.