It has been three years since the national carbon emissions trading market launched online trading in July 2021. Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, recently stated that in the past three years, the national carbon emissions trading market has successfully completed two compliance cycles and achieved the expected construction goals.

    At a recent press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Pei Xiaofei introduced that the national carbon market is an important policy tool for using market mechanisms to control greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, including the mandatory carbon emissions trading market and The voluntary greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market is two parts. The two markets, compulsory and voluntary, have their own focuses and operate independently, but also work in the same direction and complement each other, and are organically connected through a quota settlement and offset mechanism.

    In July 2021, the national carbon emissions trading market launched online trading. Currently, 2257 key emission units in the power generation industry are included, covering approximately 5.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions. The national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market was officially launched in January 2024. At present, the institutional framework system has been completed, and emission reduction projects and voluntary emission reductions are about to enter the window period for application for registration, encouraging companies in a wider range of industries to participate in carbon emission reduction actions.

    Pei Xiaofei said that in the past three years, the national carbon emissions trading market has mainly made progress in four aspects: First, a relatively complete institutional framework has been established. Second, an infrastructure support system of "one network, two institutions, and three platforms" has been built. Third, carbon emission accounting and management capabilities have been significantly improved. At present, enterprises have established internal control systems for carbon emission management, and their management level and accounting capabilities have been significantly improved. Fourth, the vitality of the carbon market has steadily increased.

    He introduced that as of the end of June 2024, the cumulative transaction volume of the national carbon emissions trading market was 465 million tons, with a transaction volume of approximately 27 billion yuan. The transaction scale has gradually expanded. The transaction volume and transaction volume in the second performance cycle have increased by 19% and 89% respectively compared with the first performance cycle. In addition, the enthusiasm of companies to participate in transactions in the second performance cycle has increased significantly. The companies participating in transactions accounted for 82% of the total, an increase of nearly 50% compared with the first performance cycle. At the same time, the overall carbon price showed a steady upward trend, rising from 48 yuan/ton at the start to the closing price of 91.6 yuan/ton on July 26 this year, an increase of 90.8%.

    Pei Xiaofei said that in the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will adhere to the basic positioning of the national carbon market as a policy tool to control greenhouse gas emissions, continue to improve relevant supporting policies, expand industry coverage, enrich trading entities and products, and explore the implementation of a combination of free and paid quotas allocation methods, deepen international exchanges and cooperation in the carbon market, strive to build a more effective, more dynamic, and more internationally influential carbon market, and help achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Make greater contributions to addressing global climate change. Source: Xinhua Agency