China is in the midst of launching seven carbon markets, the largest of which will open next month in Guangdong, the country’s most populous province. The carbon markets are a key element of China’s plan to cut carbon emissions by up to 45 percent per unit of GDP by 2020.
The Guangdong carbon permitting scheme will cap 2013 emissions at 350 tons for 202 companies in the heavily industrialized province. Twenty-nine million permits will be auctioned in the market this year and next, which will be the world’s second largest carbon market after the European Union’s, dwarfing carbon markets in Australia and California.
In 2015 the number of permits auctioned will more than triple, officials said. Shanghai’s carbon market launched yesterday and a similar market, about a quarter of the size of Guangdong’s, is set to open in Beijing tomorrow. China’s seven carbon markets together will regulate roughly 700 to 800 million tons of CO2 annually — roughly equal to the annual emissions of Germany — and they will cover regions representing nearly a third of China’s gross domestic product, Reuters reports.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
