April 18, 2018 – From the 17th to the 18th of April, GIZ and the Chinese National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC) held the second session of the advanced training on the national ETS in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.
After the first session of the advanced training, which was held in Fuzhou from the 12th to the 13th of April, was targeted towards Provincial Development and Reform Commissions (DRC), supporting organizations and exchanges from Southeast-China, the second training focused on participants from the southwest of the country. A total of around 25 participants from the above mentioned organizations attended the training, followed several presentations by German and Chinese experts and engaged in discussion with them. The presentations covered mainly important lessons that have been learned from the EU ETS and recent developments regarding the ETS policy in China. On the second day, participants presented achievements and challenges in their respective provinces and discussed the challenges with Chinese and German experts. The training was opened with remarks from Mr. MA Aimin, Deputy Director of the NCSC, Mr. BAO Lin, Deputy Director of the hosting DRC of Guizhou Province, and Mr. Kristian Wilkening, Project Director of GIZ. Diving into details, Mr. Alexander Handke, Senior Policy Officer from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, presented the EU ETS, its particularities and the agencies and government entities running the system on the European and German level. In the following, Dr. von Meyerinck, who was able to gain vast private-sector experience during his work on emission trading for companies like BP and who has furthermore advised a number of countries on ETS development, presented how policies influence actions by companies, how the companies are in turn able to deal with the establishment of an ETS and how an effective stakeholder dialogue can be established. After the presentations by the German experts, Ms. LIU Haiyan presented recent developments of ETS policy in China, namely the work plan for the construction of China’s ETS for the power sector. The participant’s understanding of the current state of Chinese policy on ETS was in the following further deepened by presentations given by Dr. ZHOU Sheng, Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, and Mr. ZHANG Hao of CQC, dealing with allowance allocation and MRV, respectively.
During the morning session on the following day, the participants had the chance to present the achievements that have been made in their provinces as well as to discuss the challenges they are facing in their work. Based on the shared experiences, a lively discussion emerged, as the participants were able to ask German and Chinese experts about their opinions on the presented challenges and about how these issues have been resolved in the European case. The discussion was followed by a simulation of allocation and certificate trading in order to allow the participants to get hands-on emissions trading experience. The first two of six sessions of the advanced training on the national ETS have been a great success. The determination and active participation of more than fifty people during the two sessions showed the importance of the establishment of ETS for China’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Both experts and organizers alike are looking forward to continue to trainings later this year.
