China Carbon Watch: Trading Soars to New 2023 High

Trading in China’s national carbon emissions allowance (CEA) market in August soared to a new monthly high this year of about 13.4 million tons, more than fourfold July’s level.

Both open market transactions and block trades hit 2023 highs.

The surge in trading volumes followed the distribution of the final 2021 and 2022 vintage CEAs in July, which spurred a wave of selling of surpluses and buying to make up for compliance shortfalls.