Xi Jinping Is Set for a Big Gamble With China’s Carbon Trading Market
“Carbon trading on a national scale will send a signal to the world
that China is serious about this,” said Wang Yi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing who also belongs to the national legislature and advises the government on climate policy.
The start of a national carbon trading market in China by late this year has been years in the making,
but is now shaping up as Mr. Xi’s big policy retort to Mr. Trump’s decision to quit the Paris accord.
“To move to emissions trading, you need to have realistic numbers on how to start to price these emissions.”
If China gets past these problems, it will create the world’s biggest emissions market, overshadowing the European Union’s, and
that could deepen China’s influence over developing new energy technology, Chinese policy advisers said.
“It’s a good idea to start with a narrow range of sectors, even if
that wasn’t the original plan,” said Stian Reklev, a Beijing-based co-founder of Carbon Pulse, which provides information on greenhouse gas markets and climate change policy.
