China Plugs In National Carbon Trading Friday

What’s new: China is scheduled to kick off its long-awaited national carbon market Friday, the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange said Thursday in a statement.

The Shanghai exchange is responsible for managing accounts and operations of the national carbon trading system until a dedicated agency is created. Caixin learned that an opening ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at separate venues in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan before trading officially starts.

In late June, the country’s five largest power generation companies submitted carbon emission quotas they plan to trade on the market, a source at a state-owned power company told Caixin.

The context: China’s national carbon market is expected to become the world’s largest, outpacing Europe’s, as total annual carbon emissions of just the first batch of companies involved amount to more than 4 billion tons, according to official estimates.

The first batch involves more than 2,000 power generation companies, which account for more than 40% of China’s energy-related carbon emissions.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

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