China progresses towards relaunch of certified emission reduction programme

BEIJING, 26th October, 2023 (WAM) — The Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment has made significant progress toward relaunching the China Certified Emission Reduction programme, a voluntary mechanism that will allow participants to earn tradable carbon credits.

According to China Daily, the ministry publicised the methodologies that will be used to quantify net emission reductions or removals for four types of projects: forestation, solar thermal power, offshore wind power generation and mangrove revegetation.

Four days earlier, it unveiled a regulation on CCER trading for trial implementation, vowing to gradually expand the number of sectors covered by the mechanism.

Industry insiders said the publication of the regulation, a key document for the mechanism’s operation, meant the programme might be relaunched soon.

Ministry of Ecology and Environment spokesman Liu Youbin said in June that the ministry would strive to relaunch CCER as soon as possible this year, adding that the infrastructure required for the programme had essentially been completed.

CCER would complement China’s carbon trading market — the world’s largest — said Wang Weiquan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.

At a recent symposium on CCER, Ma Aimin, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, said the CCER mechanism aimed to encourage the development of emerging low-carbon industries but might also help enterprises involved in the carbon market reduce their costs in ensuring market compliance.

In China’s national carbon trading market, which was launched in July 2021, enterprises can still use leftover CCER credits to offset 5 percent of the carbon emission allowances they need to buy. The carbon trading market currently involves 2,162 power generators and is expected to be expanded to another seven industries, including steel and chemical production.