Recently, the Guangzhou Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau issued an announcement that the Office of the Financial Commission of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China officially issued the "Implementation Plan for the Development of Green Finance in Guangzhou to Support Carbon Peaking Action" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), proposing to improve the green financial organization system, vigorously support the construction of the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, serve green development, and create a complete futures industry chain.
Accelerate the process of R&D and listing of green futures varieties
In terms of enriching the green financial product system, the "Implementation Plan" states that it will support the Guangzhou Futures Exchange to accelerate the R&D and listing process of futures varieties that serve green development such as power and polysilicon. Actively promote the combination of futures and spot business development to serve the green and low-carbon transformation.
The Futures Daily reporter noticed that the market is calling for accelerating the launch of more new energy futures varieties. During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, many representatives also suggested speeding up the introduction of more futures varieties that are suitable for the new energy industry.
Taking power futures as an example, during the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, Zou Jinkai, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Guangdong Baolihua New Energy Co., Ltd., said in "Accelerating the Construction of the Power Futures Market and Improving the Multi-level Power Market System" With the rapid development of new energy, the uncertainty of its power generation output has exacerbated the fluctuation of electricity prices, and extreme prices and even negative electricity prices have frequently appeared, which has brought challenges to the steady operation of new energy enterprises and traditional power generation enterprises, and the construction of the power futures market should be accelerated and the multi-level power market system should be improved. In this regard, he suggested that the relevant ministries and commissions should thoroughly study the experience of mature markets, combine with China's specific national conditions, further improve the electricity spot market mechanism, and build a multi-level electricity market system. At the same time, we will accelerate the pilot implementation of electricity futures in Guangdong, summarize and form a replicable and generalizable experience, and promote it to other parts of the country.
It is understood that according to the plan, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange is making every effort to promote the research and development of power futures, extensive research, listen to the opinions and suggestions of power grid enterprises, dispatching agencies, trading institutions and industrial customers, and has completed the design of the Guangdong power futures contract plan, the draft contract is close to the actual situation of the Guangdong electricity spot market, and the industrial customers are more recognized.
At present, the policy environment for power futures is also constantly ushering in favorable. Previously, the People's Bank of China, together with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other five departments, jointly issued the "Opinions on Financial Support for the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform and Opening-up in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone", "Opinions on Financial Support for the Construction of the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin", and the "Three-year Action Plan for the Construction of a World-class Business Environment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission.
A number of interviewed industry insiders believe that foreign futures trading practices show that the use of electricity futures can effectively avoid the risks of the electricity market and promote the development of the electricity market. Electricity futures are a common choice for mature power markets, and they are also an indispensable and important link in the development of China's electricity market.
In fact, since its establishment, Guangqi has always adhered to the functional positioning of helping green and low-carbon transformation and development, and has made every effort to promote the research and development of varieties serving green development. In December 2022 and July 2023, Guangzhou Futures Exchange listed two varieties of industrial silicon and lithium carbonate futures respectively, preliminarily building a new energy sector system in China's futures market.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, since its listing, the market size of industrial silicon futures and lithium carbonate futures has gradually increased, and the market depth has initially met the risk management needs of enterprises. As of April 10, 2024, the average daily trading volume of industrial silicon futures was 105,300 contracts, and the average daily position was 123,900 contracts; The average daily trading volume of lithium carbonate futures was 289,600 lots, and the average daily position was 196,600 lots. The reporter learned from the Guangfu Institute that up to now, the number of industrial enterprises participating in industrial silicon futures and lithium carbonate futures has exceeded 12,000, and the two varieties have achieved good results in terms of futures price quality, futures and spot price relations, investor structure optimization, industrial services, etc., and the correlation coefficient of futures and spot prices of these two varieties is about 0.97, and the function of the futures market has been effectively played.
At present, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange is conscientiously implementing the deployment of the Central Financial Work Conference, giving full play to the functional role of the futures market, and continuously strengthening services in the fields of new energy and new materials. The relevant person in charge of the Guangzhou Futures Exchange said that in 2024, on the basis of improving industrial silicon and lithium carbonate futures, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange will focus on the new energy industry chain, accelerate the listing of new energy metal varieties such as polysilicon, platinum, palladium, lithium hydroxide, etc., and focus on solar power generation, wind energy, lithium battery and other energy storage industry R&D reserves including photovoltaic modules, cobalt, EVA, hydrogen energy, light index and a series of varieties, focusing on the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and actively promote carbon emission rights. The research of major strategic varieties such as electric power will unswervingly promote the green and low-carbon development of energy, contribute futures power to the advancement of new energy and other industries to new quality productivity, and help China achieve the dual carbon goal.
Support the development and listing of carbon futures by the Guangzhou Futures Exchange
In terms of enriching and developing carbon financial instruments, the "Implementation Plan" proposes to support the research and development of listed carbon emission rights and other futures varieties by Guangqiyi. Support the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area carbon market based on the Guangdong carbon market。 Actively play the role of Guangzhou as an innovative carbon finance center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and explore the construction of a green certification center.
It is understood that carbon futures are a key area for the development of carbon financial products. In recent years, the relevant national and local authorities have been paying close attention to and supporting the launch of carbon futures products on the Futures Exchange. In order to optimize the construction of the carbon market, on December 25, 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Three-year Action Plan for the Construction of a World-class Business Environment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", which proposes to build a green development demonstration zone in the Greater Bay Area and promote the active research and development of green development futures products such as carbon emission rights and electricity. As early as November 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments jointly issued a document to support the construction of a carbon futures market and the development of carbon financial services. In February 2023, the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept to Promote Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality", which clearly stated that the construction of the spot and futures markets for carbon emission rights should be accelerated. At the same time, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange has repeatedly stated that it will increase the research and development of carbon emission futures varieties.
In addition, with the successful conclusion of the second compliance cycle of the national carbon emission trading market and the official launch of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading (CCER), the listing of carbon emission futures is also highly anticipated by the industry. On February 4 this year, the State Council promulgated the Interim Regulations on the Administration of Carbon Emission Trading, which is the first regulation in the field of climate change in China. During the two sessions this year, Li Shufu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of Geely Holding Group, proposed in the "Proposal on Consolidating the Foundation of the Carbon Market and Promoting the Automobile Industry to Achieve the "Double Carbon" Goal that in order to maintain the international leading position of China's new energy vehicle industry and meet the requirements of international carbon emission policies, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a national carbon market, introduce carbon management related mechanisms and policies, and standardize the digital platform for carbon management. carbon forwards and other trading products, etc.
"The main purpose of the carbon emission allowance spot market is the spot trading of carbon allowances, and one of the main functions of the carbon emission rights futures market is pricing. The relevant person in charge of the Guangzhou Futures Exchange believes that carbon emission futures can provide effective pricing for the market, provide risk management tools, optimize resource allocation, expand market boundaries and capacity and promote emission reduction. The carbon emission futures market will greatly enrich and improve the carbon market system, play a unique role in the process of comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society, and the construction of a national carbon market with effective prices, stable operation and linkage of futures and spot is crucial to promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
However, at present, China's carbon emissions are limited to spot market transactions, and the participants are mainly enterprises related to carbon emissions, mainly power companies, and the market is relatively closed, indirectly involved in carbon emissions and carbon absorption, carbon utilization, and other enterprises cannot enter the market for investment. "At present, the national carbon trading market is relatively scattered, and it is difficult for various trading markets to achieve effective docking, resulting in inactive market transactions and easy to cause price distortion. Jing Chuan, chief economist of Shanghai East Asia Futures, said that the key to the development of the current carbon emission market is to consolidate the spot market, expand the industries and scale of the spot market, and improve liquidity, so as to build a large market with multi-party participation and form a national unified exchange for carbon emission trading.