China to launch emissions trading scheme in July

China will launch its national emissions trading scheme (ETS) this month, the state council said today.

The ETS had been due to start by the end of June but missed its deadline amid uncertainty over pricing and other details of the system.

The ETS will initially cover the electricity sector, with 2,225 coal and gas-fired plants included. Longer term, all entities that emitted more than 26,000t of CO2 equivalent in any single year from 2013-19 will be brought into the scheme.

The government has authorised industry associations to start preliminary work to include the steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, petrochemical and chemical sectors in the ETS. This includes setting plans for emissions quota allocations, trading regulations and system testing, as well as building up monitoring, reporting and verification systems for each sector.

The ETS is one of the tools that the Chinese government plans to use to meet its targets of peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

By Kevin Foster