BEIJING: The recent administrative regulations adopted by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, to manage the nation’s carbon trading market — the world’s largest — will help resolve emerging problems in the program and ensure that the market plays a significant role in helping the country realize its ambitious climate targets, experts said.
Compared with previous regulations, which were issued by departments under the State Council, the new ones include much stricter penalties for violations to help deter companies from fraudulently understating their emissions, they said.
Formulated based on pilot experiences and foreign standards, a stipulation was added to gradually introduce a mechanism to charge a fee so that companies who need emissions allowances must pay for them, which will help further raise enterprises’ awareness on low-carbon development, they added.
Premier Li Qiang signed a State Council decree last month to adopt the new regulations, which will take effect on May 1.
Carbon trading is the process of buying and selling allowances to emit greenhouse gases among designated emitters.
The country initiated pilot carbon trading programs in October 2011 in seven parts of the country, including Hubei province, Beijing and Shanghai. The pilot programs in these regions started trading in 2013. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
