July 22 (Xinhua) — Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said on the 21st while releasing the "National Carbon Market Development Report (2024)" that the influence of the national carbon market's development continues to expand and market vitality is steadily improving.

Zhao made the remarks on the 21st at the 2024 China Carbon Market Conference held in Wuhan.

The national carbon emission trading market started with the power generation sector and launched online trading in July 2021. It now includes 2,257 key emission units, covering about 5.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, accounting for more than 40% of the country's carbon dioxide emissions, making it the market with the largest greenhouse gas emissions coverage in the world.

The report points out that the allowance allocation for the second compliance period of the national carbon emission trading market was basically balanced in terms of gains and losses, in line with policy expectations. As of the end of 2023, the completion rates of allowance settlement for 2021 and 2022 were 99.61% and 99.88% respectively, further improved compared with the first compliance period and among the top of major international carbon markets. From January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023, carbon emission allowances traded totaled 263 million tons, with a turnover of 17.258 billion yuan. The scale of trading has gradually expanded, trading prices have been stable with an upward trend, and the number of key emission units participating in trading increased by 31.79% compared with the first compliance period. Through a flexible compliance mechanism, a total of 202 key emission units in difficulty were helped to ease compliance difficulties.

The report says that carbon market construction is a complex systematic project. The national carbon market is still in its initial stage, its institutional system needs further improvement, and many aspects, including covered industries, trading methods, participants and products, market activity, the exercise of market functions, and data quality management, still need to be developed and improved.

Zhao pointed out that next, we will thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, accelerate the construction of a unified national carbon market, better leverage the role of market mechanisms, create a fairer and more dynamic market environment, and achieve the optimal allocation efficiency and maximum benefits of carbon emission reduction resources. We will both invigorate the market and keep it well regulated, better maintain market order, and stimulate the endogenous driving force and innovative vitality of green and low-carbon development across society.