Cumulative transactions of nearly 27 billion yuan, the national carbon market is generally operating smoothly
Today (16th) marks the third anniversary of the launch of the national carbon emissions trading market. The reporter learned from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment that as of July 15, the cumulative transaction of carbon emission quotas in the national carbon market exceeded 460 million tons, with a cumulative transaction value of nearly 27 billion yuan. The overall operation is stable and promotes the green transformation of power generation companies.
In the three years since the launch of the carbon market, the closing price per ton of carbon dioxide has increased from more than 40 yuan at the beginning of the opening to around 90 yuan, and the historical high of carbon prices has exceeded 100 yuan.
Yu Xiang, Director of the Climate Change Economics Research Office of the Institute of Ecological Civilization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences:If the price of carbon emission rights trading is higher, it means that companies will have to pay higher costs when purchasing carbon emission rights quotas. For a company with some surplus quotas, it can earn higher returns by selling quotas. Use the price to encourage or influence the company's decision-making.
Yu Xiang said that the increase in carbon prices will undoubtedly prompt more than 2,000 thermal power companies in the market to increase their awareness of energy conservation and emission reduction. At present, it is the peak of thermal power generation in summer. At Huadian Xiangyang Company in Hubei Province, agricultural and forestry wastes such as tree bark and grain hulls collected from surrounding rural areas are sent to this gasifier, and through gasification reactions, combustible gases such as carbon monoxide and methane are generated, and then sent to coal-fired power generating units for mixed combustion. This company used to use coal as its main fuel. By building this biomass power generation project, it can replace about 18,000 tons of standard coal every year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 50,000 tons. The company has achieved a reduction in overall energy consumption.
Yang Tao, Director of Biomass Operation and Maintenance Department of Hubei Huadian Xiangyang Power Generation Co., Ltd.:The project reduces carbon dioxide emissions every year, which can be used for carbon quotas for other units, and can reduce the company's capital expenditure by at least 2 million yuan every year.
In addition to tapping potential in power generation technology, many power generation companies participating in the national carbon market have also actively assumed more social responsibilities. At Datang Fuping Thermal Power Company in Shaanxi Province, two 350-megawatt ultra-low emission generating units use recycled water for power generation to undertake 10 million square meters of central heating in surrounding areas. By continuously optimizing coal-fired efficiency, the coal consumption of this company in the heating season has decreased year by year compared with the initial stage of production. The carbon emissions in the heating season in 2023 will be approximately 1.24 million tons.
Meng Xianghua, chief engineer of Datang Fuping Thermal Power Co., Ltd.:Compared with non-central heating, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by about 40,000 tons, equivalent to afforestation of about 360,000 trees. In the carbon market, the carbon dioxide quota surplus is about 100,000 tons.
Experts said that participating in carbon market transactions can not only encourage companies to fulfill their emission control responsibilities, but also gradually reduce the cost of emission reduction for companies.
Xu Huaqing, chief scientist of the National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change:Reducing the carbon cost of the power generation industry is mainly guided by the supply and demand relationship of market quotas and carbon prices. Therefore, companies are encouraged to adopt more emission reduction technologies and emission reduction measures. As our technology advances, our emission reduction costs will be further reduced on the one hand.
Carbon market: a market for trading carbon emissions
The carbon market, also known as the carbon emissions trading market, is one of the core policy tools to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. In order to implement the national greenhouse gas emission control targets, the government will set a total carbon emission control target within a certain time limit and allocate it to companies participating in carbon emission trading in the form of emission quotas.
The carbon emissions trading market uses the price of carbon quotas as an incentive to encourage companies to reduce emissions more and sell surplus carbon quotas to obtain economic incentives.
The market is about to expand to cover more industries
Relevant experts told reporters that at present, all participating companies in my country's carbon market are thermal power generation companies, and it is expected that more mature industries will be introduced into the national carbon market this year.
The establishment of the national carbon market has gone through a long period of accumulation and exploration. As early as 2011, seven provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guangdong launched local pilot projects for carbon emissions trading. On July 16, 2021, the national carbon emissions trading market launched online trading, covering approximately 5.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, accounting for more than 40% of the country's total emissions, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions.
At present, my country's carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in key industries such as power generation, steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, papermaking and aviation, and their carbon emissions account for about 75% of the total emissions of the whole society. Experts said that these key industries have a high degree of industrialization and have a certain talent, technology, facilities and management foundation, making it easier to achieve quantitative control and management of carbon emissions. This year's government work report has clearly proposed to "expand the coverage of the national carbon market industry." The Ministry of Ecology and Environment is advancing in stages and steps, and this year it is expected to include steel, building materials and other industries in the national carbon emissions trading market.
Xu Huaqing, chief scientist of the National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change:Building a national carbon market is a major institutional innovation that uses market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development of the economy and society. It is also an important policy tool to actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and comprehensive carbon neutrality, and has become an important window to show my country's active response to climate change.
