The Chinese government intends to create a nationwide carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) during the period from 2021 to 2025. The country previously expected to launch the first phase of the ETS, only covering the power sector, by the end of 2020. This scheme has been on the works for several years. China started with seven regional trading platforms in 2013 and launched a national ETS in December 2017 but had to work on legal and technical infrastructure construction before starting trading. In August 2020, pilot ETS in seven Chinese regions covered nearly 3,000 industrial emitters and traded 406 MtCO2eq of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
China ratified the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016. Its current NDC set the objective of achieving a peak CO2 reduction around 2030, or earlier if possible; lowering CO2 per unit of GDP by 60% to 65% from 2005 levels; increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20%; and increasing the forest stock volume by around 4.5 bcm above the 2005 level. In September 2020, China pledged to scale up its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, targeting a peak in CO2 emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. The country is currently working on a new five-year plan that will determine its near-term decarbonisation plans. The country’s CO2 emissions from energy combustion have almost quadrupled since 1990, reaching 9.7 GtCO2 in 2019.
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