"In the past three years, the national mandatory carbon emission trading market has successfully completed two compliance cycles." On July 29, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in July, Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said. As of the end of June 2024, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emission trading market was 465 million tons.
The national carbon emissions trading market is progressing rapidly. In the past three years, the carbon price has doubled, with a cumulative turnover of nearly 27 billion yuan. However, it should be noted that the mainland carbon market currently only includes the power sector. At present, there are increasing calls for expanding the coverage of industries in the national carbon market, including cement, electrolytic aluminum, and steel in the carbon market.
"To better play the function of the carbon market, capacity expansion is the most urgent thing at present." Yan Gang, vice president of the Academy of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said. He has previously revealed that in terms of industry maturity, the cement, electrolytic aluminum and steel industries have all reached 5 stars, and are included in the national carbon market as a top priority. Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, also said earlier that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will accelerate the inclusion of key emitting industries such as steel, cement and aluminum smelting into the national carbon emission trading market.
In the face of the imminent expansion of the carbon market, how should energy-intensive industries such as steel prepare to embrace the carbon market? At the recently held "Green and Low-Carbon Transformation and Innovation Workshop of the Iron and Steel Industry", a number of experts also said that high-energy-consuming enterprises such as the steel industry, as the main body of carbon emission management, should find out the bottom line, accurately report the number, be familiar with the rules of the carbon market, and do a good job in the construction of the enterprise carbon emission management system.
On July 16, 2021, the launching ceremony of the national carbon market and the China Carbon Trading Market Forum were held at the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange. Xinhua News Agency
The ETS market is moving fast
The turnover is about 27 billion yuan, and two performance cycles have been successfully completed
In July 2021, the national carbon emission trading market was launched online, and currently includes 2,257 key emitting enterprises in the power generation industry, covering about 5.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Pei Xiaofei, the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market was also officially launched in January 2024, and the current institutional framework system has been completed, and emission reduction projects and voluntary emission reductions are about to enter the window period for application and registration, encouraging a wider range of industry enterprises to participate in carbon emission reduction actions.
It is worth mentioning that as of the end of June 2024, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emission trading market was 465 million tons, with a turnover of about 27 billion yuan. The scale of transactions has gradually expanded, and the volume and turnover of the second compliance cycle have increased by 19% and 89% respectively compared with the first compliance cycle, and the enthusiasm of enterprises participating in transactions in the second compliance cycle has increased significantly, accounting for 82% of the total number of enterprises participating in the transaction, an increase of nearly 50% compared with the first compliance cycle. At the same time, the overall carbon price showed a steady upward trend, from 48 yuan/ton at the start to 91.6 yuan/ton at the closing price on July 26, 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, release methodologies in more fields, enrich trading entities and products, explore and implement a combination of free and paid quota allocation methods, deepen international exchanges and cooperation in the carbon market, and strive to build a more effective, more dynamic and internationally influential carbon market, so as to help achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Make greater contributions to the fight against global climate change.
The carbon market is about to expand
Cement, electrolytic aluminum, steel, etc. are given top priority
The mainland's carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in eight key industries, including power generation, iron and steel, building materials, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, papermaking, and aviation, accounting for about 75% of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions. However, it should be noted that at present, the mainland carbon market only includes the power sector.
Yan Gang, vice president of the Academy of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, previously said that the relevant departments of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment comprehensively considered factors such as the urgency of emission reduction, the degree of synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, the degree of industry acceptance, data quality and the attention of the international community, and judged the priority of each industry, and the results were: cement, electrolytic aluminum, steel and other three industries all received 5 stars, civil aviation 4 stars, chemical industry 3 stars, petrochemical and paper are 2 stars.
At the China Carbon Market Conference held in July this year, Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, delivered a speech.
At the China Carbon Market Conference held in July this year, Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, revealed in his speech that in the future, the construction of the national carbon market will be accelerated, and key emitting industries such as steel, cement and aluminum smelting will be included in the national carbon emission trading market.
"Through the expansion, we can enrich the trading entities, varieties and methods, enhance the market vitality, implement more corporate emission reduction responsibilities, and improve the level of corporate carbon asset management." Yan Gang said.
In the Green and Low-Carbon Transformation Innovation Workshop of the Iron and Steel Industry, many experts discussed the low-carbon transformation path of energy-intensive industries.
How to green and low-carbon transformation
Enterprises in the steel industry should find out their backgrounds, be familiar with the rules of the carbon market, and do a good job in the construction of the carbon emission management system of enterprises
At present, there are increasing calls for expanding the coverage of the national carbon market and including cement, electrolytic aluminum, steel and other industries in the carbon market. How should companies in industries such as steel prepare for the upcoming expansion of the carbon market? In the recent "Green and Low-Carbon Transformation Innovation Workshop in the Iron and Steel Industry", a number of experts also discussed this issue.
Sun Zhen, a former first-level inspector of the Climate Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at the meeting that carbon reduction in the steel industry is an important part of the mainland's climate action. While saving energy and controlling pollution, we will actively take technical measures to reduce carbon emissions. "The carbon market is not only a friendly market tool, but also a serious administrative tool, and it is hoped that industry enterprises will raise their awareness of compliance, put environmental responsibility before environmental rights and interests, and actively carry out relevant preparatory work according to the national deployment, including data-focused capacity building and quota-focused policy communication."
He also pointed out that attention should be paid to the division of labor between the carbon market and the green certificate market. "The steel industry inevitably involves two markets, and the relevant departments should be urged to clarify the relevant rules to prevent multiple management and policy redundancy."
Chen Jian, head of the capital and environmental protection group of the Institute of Standardization of the Institute of Metallurgical Industry Information Standards, said that the carbon emission accounting methods and carbon quota allocation rules of iron and steel enterprises have been basically determined, and the preliminary plan for the steel industry to be included in the national carbon market has been basically completed. As the main body of carbon emission management, iron and steel enterprises should find out their background, accurately report the number, be familiar with the rules of the carbon market, and do a good job in the construction of the carbon emission management system of the enterprise.
Zhong Shaoliang, Deputy Director General of worldsteel and Chief Representative of the Beijing Representative Office, presented the carbon emission reduction pathways of steel at the meeting. He said that in the near term, enterprises in the steel industry should improve the energy efficiency of existing technologies and equipment and reduce carbon emission intensity; In the medium term, the use of scrap resources should be maximized, and the transition to a short process should be gradually made. In the medium and long term, the development and application of a new generation of steel smelting technology will replace traditional technology.
Sun Jin, deputy general manager of Beijing Keji Environmental Technology Development Co., Ltd., shared the progress of the steel industry's inclusion in the carbon market data submission and the key points of concern of iron and steel enterprises. She said that at present, the key points of concern of iron and steel enterprises include accounting boundaries, emission source analysis, carbon emission data and management. In terms of carbon emission data and management, there are mainly problems such as low measurement rate of emission factors, imperfect installation of measuring instruments, and untimely maintenance and calibration.
In this regard, Sun Jin suggested that iron and steel enterprises should improve their awareness of data quality, establish an internal quality control system, improve the installation of measuring instruments, and regularly calibrate measuring instruments, so as to lay a solid data foundation for finding out their own emissions.
Regarding the current situation of carbon emission management of enterprises, Sun Jin also suggested that special personnel and special posts should be established to follow up relevant policies and accounting rules in a timely manner, integrate carbon management into the daily production decisions of enterprises, and continuously improve the level of carbon emission management of enterprises.
Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Wei from Beijing