Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Explore and study more methodologies in the field of marine carbon sinks suitable for China's national conditions
On April 28, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference in April, at which Zhang Zhifeng, Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Ecology and Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, answered questions from reporters on issues related to the CCER methodology of marine carbon sequestration.
Zhang Zhifeng said that China attaches great importance to the construction of ecological carbon sinks. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" and the "Action Plan for Carbon Peaking Before 2030" both call for consolidating the carbon sink capacity of the ecosystem and increasing the increment of the carbon sink of the ecosystem, and put forward clear requirements for marine carbon sinks, including improving the carbon sequestration capacity of mangroves, seagrass beds, salt marshes, etc., and improving the statistical monitoring capacity of carbon sinks such as the ocean.
The establishment of a national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market is an institutional innovation to mobilize the whole society to participate in greenhouse gas emission reduction actions. The National Greenhouse Gas Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading Market supports the development of projects that have important contributions to carbon reduction and sink increase, such as marine carbon sinks, and has a positive effect on China's realization of nationally determined contributions.
Zhang Zhifeng said that in October last year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial)". In view of the compilation of the methodology of the voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction project, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has comprehensively solicited methodological suggestions through open solicitation from the whole society, and carried out the evaluation and selection of the methodology in an orderly manner. On this basis, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has formulated and released the first batch of four methodologies, including the mangrove construction methodology, in accordance with the principles of high social expectations, clear emission reduction mechanisms, guaranteed data quality, social and ecological benefits, and effective supervision. In January this year, the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market was launched, marking the completion of a national carbon market system in which the mandatory carbon market and the voluntary carbon market are complementary and interconnected.
In the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will support eligible mangrove planting projects to participate in the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading, while strengthening the standardization and guidance of the preparation of legal methods, unblocking the channels for reflecting methodological suggestions, carrying out the evaluation and selection of methodologies on a regular basis, and encouraging all kinds of social entities to explore and study more methodologies in the field of marine carbon sinks suitable for China's national conditions on the basis of docking with international rules, mature one, release one, and actively promote the improvement of marine carbon sink capacity to help carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
