On August 28th, Liu Youbin, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment that he would strive to start the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market as early as this year, and effectively play the important role of market mechanism in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and promoting green and low-carbon technological innovation. The quota distribution and implementation of the national carbon emission rights market in 2021 and 2022 have been started recently.
The national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market is the national certified voluntary emission reduction (CCER). For its restart, most experts are happy with it. "CCER restart is inevitable. The voluntary emission reduction trading market is a supplement to the mandatory carbon market, which is conducive to the compliance market and enterprises to achieve low-cost emission reduction, promote the development of renewable energy and cope with climate change. From an international and domestic perspective, the restart of CCER is imminent. " Mei Dewen, vice chairman of Beijing Green Exchange, said.
The policy is ready, CCER is ready to go
China's CCER system started construction in 2012 and entered the trading stage in 2015. Suspension of issuance in 2017. After the issuance is suspended, the existing CCER can still be traded in the local carbon market and used for performance offset in the national carbon market. "CCER has not been restarted since it was suspended in 2017." Tan Yan, senior analyst of Luft Carbon Market of London Stock Exchange Group, said that the main reasons why CCER did not restart before were as follows: First, multi-sectoral coordination took a long time; Second, the methodology and other technical documents covered by the current policy have not yet been determined, and the CCER policy needs to be coordinated with it.
At present, the relevant conditions are maturing. On March 30, 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment publicly solicited methodological suggestions for voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction projects to provide a basis for the issuance of subsequent CCER projects. On June 27th, the construction project of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction registration system and trading system was initially accepted, making infrastructure preparations for CCER registration and online trading. On July 7th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the General Administration of Market Supervision, revised the Interim Measures for the Administration of Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading of Greenhouse Gases, compiled and formed the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading of Greenhouse Gases (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the Administrative Measures), and publicly solicited opinions from the whole society. On August 17th, Beijing Green Exchange issued the Announcement on the Service Arrangements Related to the National Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading System, announcing that the National Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading System will open the account opening function from now on, and clarifying the important information such as the account opening subject and trading place of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading.
"The release of the Administrative Measures means that the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market is about to restart, although the specific filing and issuance will have to wait." Tan Yan said that at present, industry-related enterprises are still waiting to see the new official directory rules of methodology. There are many new concrete measures in the Administrative Measures, which can effectively avoid the previous data quality problems. The General Administration of Market Supervision will also participate in the supervision of CCER, which will be stricter than before.
