You were saying Mr Hunt
Before someone jumps in and whine about China improving the efficiency of their carbon use (ie getting more growth for less pollution), they already have.China aims high for carbon market by 2020
Date
September 12, 2014
China's national carbon market is likely to regulate 3-4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020 and be worth up to 400 billion yuan ($72 billion), a government official said on Thursday, which would make it twice as big as the EU market, currently the world's biggest.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, and the Asian Development Bank held a conference in Tianjin on Thursday, outlining initial plans for a nationwide market to slow down the rapid growth of greenhouse gas emissions in China.
A senior climate official said last month China planned to start a national market in 2016.
Over the first five years of the scheme, the NDRC plans to bring emitters accounting for 3-4 billion tonnes of CO2 annually into the scheme, around 4per centnt of China's total emissions, according to a presentation delivered by Jiang Zhaoli, director of domestic policy and compliance in the NDRC climate change department.
The NDRC expects the emission permit futures market to be worth 60-400 billion yuan ($11-$72 billion) annually by 2020, with a smaller spot market with a value of around 1-8 billion yuan, according to the presentation seen by Reuters.
While the NDRC has been tasked with drawing up rules and regulations for the scheme, the final design would need approval by the State Council, China's cabinet.
Jiang's presentation was based on China removing a ban on futures trading in carbon permits, something experts have said is necessary to make the market work.
The scheme as outlined would regulate around twice as many tonnes of CO2 as are currently included in the European Union emissions market and could double the value of the global market.
Jiang said China would bring in even more emitting sectors after 2020 and would also seek ties to international markets in the next decade, but the presentation gave no further details.
It showed that Beijing plans to let central government decide the amount of permits that will be handed out to companies, create and operate the permit registry and set the rules for how emissions are monitored, reported and verified.
But the NDRC would allow a certain degree of regional autonomy in designing trading rules, the document said.
Since last June, China has launched seven regional pilot carbon markets in a bid to gain some experience before the national scheme begins.
China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to reduce its emissions per unit of GDper cent-45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
In the run-up to a global climate summit in Paris next year, China is now looking at options for what targets it might commit to in the longer term.
The Energy Research Institute (ERI), an NDRC-led think tank, recently submitted a study to NDRC officials recommending that China's emissions peak in 2030, an ERI researcher said at a Beijing conference in August.
The ERI report also outlined a more ambitious scenario with emissions peaking in 2025 and a laxer one with a 2035 target date for stopping emissions growth.
Before Greg Hunt wannabes jump in and say that it still needs the Chinese government approval, great then stick with Greg Hunt's original statement then. Say nothing will come of it. Make the bet.
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Now that we got the formalities out the way, this is a positive step towards combating climate change. I am also looking forward to when they roll out more civilian nuclear power plants.