On 28 May 2021, eight governmental institutions, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC), the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD), the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), General Administration of Customs (GAC), the National Energy Administration (NEA) and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), jointly issued a guidance on fostering high-quality development through ecological and environmental conservation in free trade zones.
Within the document, the state bodies revealed that they wish to establish their proposed structures for high-quality development through ecological and environmental protection in free-trade pilot zones by 2025. The text furthermore invites enterprises from said pilot zones to actively participate in the national carbon market, and support forest-based carbon sink projects. Finally, a call to institute a national CCER trading center in Beijing’s free trade zone was made.
