China launches world’s biggest carbon-trading scheme in fight against climate change
National plan boosts Beijing’s emerging leadership as the US – the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China – retreats on its climate advocacy
China launched a nationwide carbon-trading scheme on Tuesday, solidifying its role as an emerging leader in the fight against climate change.
The market will initially cover about 1,700 coal- and natural gas-based power-generating companies, accounting for about 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year – more than a third of the country’s total, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said.
“The power-generation industry is in the most favourable position [for the scheme] right now, with the most complete data and a relatively large scale of carbon emissions,” Zhang Yong, a vice-chairman at the commission, said.
The scheme would later be expanded to cover seven other sectors, including petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, and iron and steel, he said.
Even limited to the power sector, China’s national carbon market will be the world’s biggest – about 1.5 times as large as the second-biggest, the European Union, and several times bigger than California’s, which is the biggest in North America.