At a conference on September 27, following the climate announcement of President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly, Mr. Li Gao, Director General of the Department of Climate Change of the MEE, Professor He Jiankun, former Vice President of Tsinghua University and Mr. Xu Huaqing, Director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC), gave insights into China’s policies to actively address the challenge of climate change.
Regarding the construction of the national ETS, Li pointed out that the power generation industry was well prepared for participating in the national carbon market. A number of intensive trainings have been conducted for local authorities, as well as power companies. Preparations for the necessary regulations and supporting systems are well advanced. The plans for the settlement and trading systems have been confirmed and will enter the construction stage soon. After confirming the participating installations, finalizing the system’s infrastructure and a test period, the actual trading phase will begin.
Li further explained that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the construction of the national ETS will be accelerated. He specifically mentioned the inclusion of other key industries, including steel, cement, chemicals, electrolytic aluminum, and paper making. In recent years much work has already been carried out to prepare these sectors for the inclusion in the national ETS, such as basic data collection, research on allocation, and capacity building for industry personnel. The event was mainly attended by Chinese journalists.
Earlier in September, Li spoke at the conference “2020 Beijing International Forum for Metropolitan Clean Air and Climate Actions”. In his speech, he confirmed that the national ETS is supposed to start this year.
