Polluting companies ignore carbon scheme deadline
Sep-11-2014 By : fcccadmin
More than a quarter of all companies covered by Beijing’s municipal carbon laws ignored a key reporting deadline, with some powerful companies questioning the local government trading body’s authority to regulate them. Beijing’s carbon trading market, one of six set up in China to rein in rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions, caps carbon dioxide from nearly 500 local enterprises. Most of them must hand over permits to the government to cover for their emissions, while some must only report their CO2 levels. But 140 of them missed an April deadline to submit a verified report of their 2013 emissions, a key to determining how many permits each firm must hand over to the government to cover for CO2 output. Some of the firms implied that Beijing’s Development and Reform Commission (DRC), which operates the scheme, did not have the authority to issue such orders. Companies said they were waiting for a “red-header document” used for orders issued by the highest levels of government, whose name would be printed in red on the letterhead. For example, the Chief Executive of the China Railway Corp, one of the companies supposed to submit the report, is higher in rank than the Director of the Beijing DRC. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) routinely ignore environmental regulations issued by local governments, one of the main reasons why China is struggling to cut soaring pollution levels despite issuing a raft of environmental policies in the last couple of years.
Emission markets still to be improved
By : fcccadmin
The number of carbon permits traded on China’s pilot emissions market in Shenzhen reached 1.57 million in its first year of operations, or about 5% of the total offered for last year. Shenzhen was the first of seven pilot schemes set up by the authorities, with the final one launched in Chongqing, in a bid to curb its greenhouse gas emissions. For all the seven pilot carbon markets, liquidity has been a problem, with the firms covered by the schemes given little incentive to trade large volumes in the first year. While the market has provided valuable experience for policymakers eyeing a nationwide trading platform, improvements were still required, said Ge Xing’an, Vice Director at the China Emissions Exchange, which runs the Shenzhen market. It caps emissions from 635 firms, some of which had not participated initially, saying they were unhappy about scheme rules and planned to appeal to the government about how their emission targets had been set. On an average, less than 1,500 permits were traded per day before May, but this later exceeded 20,000 tons a day after the city government made it clear that it would fine companies that failed to comply. At the end of the first year, 96% of the companies covered by the scheme had met their targets and the price for permits stood at CNY65 per ton, compared with CNY30 last year.
China and U.S. collaborate on new energy and carbon capture
By : fcccadmin
China and the United States have reached agreement on a series of partnership projects, ranging from clean coal power generation technology to carbon capture and storage, on the eve of the sixth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED). The U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group has mobilized resources to realize eight projects, including collaboration on clean coal power generation technology by the Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute and Summit Power Group; and Northern Shaanxi industrialized demonstration of ultra-cleaning technology by Yanchang Petroleum Corp, Air Products and Chemicals and West Virginia University. A special session on climate change was also held during the SED in July. Six new eco-partnerships have been chosen for this year, including ones between the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission and the Port of Los Angeles, the Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area and the Commerce Department of Philadelphia, and the Shenzhen Low-carbon Development Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund. U.S. Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli said the initiatives have integrated governments, academia, civil society and the private sectors from both sides to address climate change and air pollution. Altogether 30 partnerships have been selected to date.
Foreigners allowed to trade carbon permits in Shenzhen
By : fcccadmin
China will allow foreigners to trade carbon permits in Shenzhen, making it the nation’s first emissions exchange to welcome foreign investors. The Shenzhen exchange has yet to set the date or finalize other entry procedures. Foreign investors are expected to bring more experience to the market. The China Emissions Exchange in Shenzhen has granted a trading license to Singapore-based broker Ginga Petroleum, with an additional eight foreign utilities and trading companies waiting in line. Ginga bought 10,000 emission permits in a private deal settled in euros at an undisclosed price. The Shenzhen market, covering about 33 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, is tiny compared to the world’s largest – the European Union emissions trading system, which regulates more than two billion tons. But a China-wide market, when fully developed, would dwarf the European scheme, and some foreign carbon traders are eager to get an early foothold in the market.
EU urges China to roll out carbon trading nationwide before 2020
Jun-12-2014 By : fcccadmin
Jos Delbeke, Director General of the European Commission’s Climate Action initiative, has urged China to roll out a nationwide carbon market before the planned completion date of 2020, insisting a carbon cap would not expose the country to greater international pressure to agree to a new climate treaty. He added that the wider the market scope, the more efficient the cap-and-trade system would be in reducing carbon emissions. Delbeke said senior Chinese officials need not worry, adding that the EU’s own emission trading scheme only covered a part of its total carbon emissions. The EU has embarked on the €5 million initiative to help China widen its existing regional pilot carbon trading schemes. Delbeke added the earlier a scheme was implemented the cheaper it would be “as it would prevent investment in the wrong type of technology”. China has launched six carbon markets over the past year, where local governments impose emissions caps on carbon-intensive companies through the issuing of carbon credits. If a company’s emissions go over the limit, they are required to buy more carbon credits to cover the excess discharge. At the same time, a company that becomes more energy-efficient and reduces its carbon footprint can sell carbon credits to help finance investment. Senior officials have previously said a nationwide roll-out of the carbon market would take place in 2020, when a new global climate treaty is due to take effect. China, as the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is under pressure to agree to an absolute cap. Beijing bases its carbon intensity targets on emissions per unit of economic growth, a formula to reduce carbon intensity by 40% to 45% by 2020 from 2005 levels, under an existing treaty which exempts developing countries from absolute reductions, the South China Morning Post reports.
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