Interpretation of accounting reports and verification guidelines for cement and aluminum smelting industries
Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Guidelines for Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting and Reporting Cement Industry","Technical Guidelines for Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emissions Verification Cement Industry","Guidelines for Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting and Reporting Aluminum Smelting Industry","Guidelines for Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emissions Verification Technology Guide Aluminum Smelting Industry"(hereinafter referred to as the Two Industry Guidelines), this is the first batch of accounting reports and verification technical specifications for other industries issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in addition to the accounting reports and verification technical specifications for the power generation industry. The release of the two industry guidelines is a specific measure to implement the requirements of the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2024 Government Work Report on improving the carbon emission statistical accounting system and improving the carbon emission statistical accounting verification capabilities. It also expands the national carbon emission trading market. Industry coverage has laid the foundation for the data management system.
The promulgation of the first and second industry guidelines is of great significance to the construction of the national emissions trading market
(1) Further improve the national carbon emissions trading market institutional system
In accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the national carbon emissions trading market uses the power generation industry as a breakthrough to carry out market construction and launch online trading. After the promulgation of the Interim Regulations on the Management of Carbon Emissions Trading (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") in early 2024, the national carbon emissions trading market has formed a multi-level institutional system of "regulations + departmental rules + normative documents + technical specifications". On the one hand, like the power generation industry accounting report and verification guidelines, this time the two industry guidelines were issued in the form of technical specifications, further improving the national carbon emissions trading market institutional system. On the other hand, this two industry guidelines optimize and improve the "Guidelines for Accounting Methods and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of China's Cement Manufacturers (Trial)" and "Guidelines for Accounting Methods and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of China's Electrolytic Aluminum Manufacturers (Trial)" issued in 2013 from the aspects of accounting, reporting, and verification, and unify and standardize the accounting reporting and verification management of greenhouse gas emission data in the cement and aluminum smelting industries.
(2) Promote and improve the effectiveness of the construction of the national carbon emissions trading market
The national carbon emissions trading market has taken the lead in including more than 2000 key emission units in the power generation industry, covering annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 5 billion tons. Since the launch of online trading in July 2021, the overall market operation has been stable and orderly, playing an important role in promoting the green and low-carbon development of the power generation industry. At present, emissions from key industries such as power generation, steel, building materials, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, papermaking, and aviation account for about 75% of my country's carbon dioxide emissions, of which electricity accounts for the first (more than 40%), and greenhouse gas emissions from building materials and nonferrous metals industries occupy an important position among the above eight industries. In the preparation process, the two industry guidelines follow the basic principle of "seeking progress while maintaining stability, first the easy and then the difficult", and comprehensively consider factors such as economic and social development, industry emissions, data quality basis, and international policy impact. The promulgation of the two industry guidelines will effectively support the national carbon emissions trading market to expand industry coverage, give full play to the important role of market mechanisms in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and promote the minimization of carbon reduction costs in the whole society, thereby helping to achieve my country's dual carbon goals. Promote green and low-carbon transformation and the construction of a beautiful China.
(3) Coordinate and strengthen the quality management of carbon emission data
Real and effective carbon emission data is the key and prerequisite for whether the carbon market policy function can be exerted and whether the market can operate healthily. It is also the bottom line and lifeline for maintaining market credit confidence and the credibility of national policies. The two industry guidelines released this time focus on the requirements of the Regulations on data quality management and further strengthen the quality management of carbon emission data from the following five aspects: First, improve the role of data quality control plans in supervision, based on the original guidelines. Add relevant chapters and refine the filling and management requirements to further consolidate the main responsibilities of corporate data quality management; The second is to clarify the monthly information-based certificate storage requirements and supporting materials, improve the accuracy and traceability of basic data, and promptly detect signs of problems; the third is to incorporate key parameters and supporting materials of certificate storage into the annual emission report as an annual verification and daily supervision. The basis for law enforcement inspections; the fourth is to focus on the big and let go of the small, focus on the management of key emission sources and key parameters, and balance the costs of enterprise reporting and supervision by competent authorities; The fifth is to make overall considerations among multiple industries, combine industry management ideas, and maintain consistency as much as possible in the preparation principles and styles of the guidelines.
2. The guide improves the technical specifications for accounting and verification
The first is to optimize accounting methods and reasonably shorten the accounting technology chain. Compared with the previous "Guidelines for Accounting Methods and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of China's Cement Manufacturers (Trial)" and "Guidelines for Accounting Methods and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of China's Electrolytic Aluminum Manufacturers (Trial)" issued by the national climate change authorities, this release The accounting guidelines for the two industries focus on the issues of "inaccurate data calculation, difficult verification and traceability, and difficult supervision" to optimize and improve the effectiveness of the accounting methods. The goal is to be standardized and operable and effectively reduce accounting uncertainty, reasonably shorten the accounting technology chain, and streamline the key accounting parameters of the cement industry from 15 to 4 respectively (i.e. fossil fuel consumption, low-level calorific value, clinker production, and non-carbonate alternative raw material consumption), the number of key accounting parameters for the aluminum smelting industry has been reduced from 11 to 2 (i.e. anode consumption, aluminum liquid production), and at the same time, it has strengthened The management requirements for measuring instruments for carbon emission accounting, as well as relevant operating specifications and recording requirements, etc.
The second is to clarify the key points of verification and further improve the operability of verification guidelines. The two industry guidelines clarify the verification points and methods such as the integrity and accuracy of production line and emission facility information within the accounting boundary, the data sources of key parameters and the verification methods and points for cross-verification, and also give the reasonable value range of parameters; The data quality control plan and verification points for implementation are refined, and corresponding verification steps and methods are clarified based on different data acquisition methods; It is clarified that the verification of measuring instruments should be carried out from four aspects: measuring instrument ledger, use and management system, calibration/verification records, and recorded results. In addition, the technical requirements for non-conformities are also standardized one by one.
The third is to reserve relevant policy space in conjunction with the construction of the carbon market. Taking into account the relevant work needs to strengthen the functions of the national carbon emissions trading market, the two industry guidelines retain the content of enterprise-level carbon emission accounting, while reserving policy interfaces for individual content. During the preparation of the guidelines, policies related to accounting verification and quota allocation should be taken into account. By increasing the accounting verification requirements for carbon emission and product production data at the facility level, and optimizing the calculation formulas related to carbon emission accounting and quota allocation, the policy orientation of "encouraging advanced and encouraging backward" provides data support. The current accounting boundaries and accounting methods of the cement and aluminum smelting industry are basically consistent with those of the EU carbon market, thus providing data support for responding to the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism.
The fourth is to create document numbers and improve the carbon market technical specification system. In order to implement the relevant requirements of the "Regulations", the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has established a technical specification system for the national carbon emissions trading market to deepen the technical coordination of various business areas of national carbon emissions trading management. One of the landmark measures is to review relevant technical specification documents. Numbering. The two industry guidelines released this time are numbered in accordance with relevant numbering rules. For example, the "Guidelines for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Enterprises-Cement Industry" is numbered "CETS-AG-02.01-V01-2024", among which CETS means "National Carbon Emissions Trading Market", AG means "Accounting Guidelines", 02.01 means "Cement Clinker in the Cement Industry", V01 means the version number, and 2024 means the release year. The 10 technical specification documents previously issued but not numbered by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will be numbered at the same time and incorporated into the technical specification system for unified management. Details can be found on the National Carbon Market Management Platform (website: http://www.cets.org.cn/). View the technical specification area of the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market. The number of technical specification documents will help identify information such as carbon market types, business areas, industry categories, revision times and release year, and further promote the improvement of the technical specification system of the national carbon emissions trading market and the orderly development of daily management work.
3. Actively promote data quality management in the cement and aluminum smelting industries
"Guidelines for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Enterprises Cement Industry" and "Guidelines for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Enterprises Aluminum Smelting Industry" are important technical specifications to guide enterprises in the cement and aluminum smelting industry to establish corporate carbon emission statistical accounting management systems and find out the total carbon emissions."Home", scientifically carry out carbon emission management, and accurately grasp the carbon emissions of unit products. Combined with the release of the two guidelines, the next step will be to carry out data quality management related work in the cement and aluminum smelting industries, organize relevant enterprises to formulate data quality control plans, carry out monthly information-based deposit certificates and annual emission report submission and verification in 2024, and organize Daily supervision of data quality in the cement and aluminum smelting industries. At the same time, we will further strengthen the digital and intelligent management of carbon emission data quality, complete the development of data reporting functional modules for the two industries of the national carbon market management platform as soon as possible, strengthen abnormal data identification and verification, continue to improve the accuracy of abnormal data early warning, and give full play to big data. The role of means in improving the efficiency of daily supervision work.
In addition, in conjunction with key work arrangements such as the promulgation of relevant institutional documents such as the "Regulations" and the expansion of industry coverage, we will further carry out capacity building for provincial and municipal ecological environment authorities and technical support units, technical service agencies, key emission units and other relevant parties, and strengthen Policy publicity and implementation and guidance and assistance, especially training around the supervision priorities of local ecological environment authorities, enterprise management capacity building and typical problem cases. Effectively promote the improvement of local data quality daily supervision capabilities and corporate data quality management levels.
