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海外发声｜上外学者赵璧在 South China Morning Post发表评论文章，谈碳排放交易市场

大学作者：上海外国语大学 2021-10-29 21:30:45

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近日，上外英国研究中心研究员赵璧在香港《南华早报》（South China Morning Post） 发表评论文章“All foam, no beer? Why China's carbon trading scheme critics have it all wrong”（只有泡沫?没有啤酒?为什么对中国碳交易市场的批评都错了?），谈我国碳排放交易计划。全文如下：

All foam, no beer?

Why China's carbon trading scheme critics have it all wrong

China launched its national-level carbon emission trading scheme yesterday, two weeks later than the original end-of-June inauguration date. On the debut day, 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide quotas worth 210 million yuan ($32 million) changed hands, and the price closed at 51.23 yuan ($7.92) per ton in its first day of trade, up 6.7%.

Though this news is generally welcomed by businesses and analysts worldwide, some commentators and research groups expressed disappointment over the limited scale of its initial phase and the relatively low opening price.

南华早报2021-07 图源：互联网

In fact, it is just another example of the typical Chinese “slow but steady” way of working, especially with large and complex projects.

Although the national carbon market is limited to carbon emitters in the power sector only in the first phase, it will evolve to a larger scale to involve seven other industries, including iron and steel and domestic aviation, and more market players in the future. It is expected that the discharge covered by the nationwide trading market will hit more than 4 billion tons, the world's largest coverage of greenhouse gas emissions.

Just as Prakash Sharma, an analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, put it, “China’s nation-wide rollout of the emissions trading scheme is a giant step. Nothing of this scale has been tried or implemented in the world before.”

Therefore, it is only scientific and natural to build an emissions trading market of such magnitude in multiple steps, rather than in just one move.

Besides, it is also worth noting that though the number of emissions trading systems around the world is increasing, China still remains the only developing country alongside other developed countries and regions including EU, Canada, and the United States to launch a scheme of such nature, which by itself clearly testifies China’s commitment to its climate goal.

Before the official launch of this market in July, China has tested carbon credit trading at a local level for years. Since 2011, such pilot markets have been set up in seven provinces and cities involving more than 20 industries. By March, nearly 3,000 major companies have covered about 440 million tons of carbon discharge, creating the turnover of 10.47 billion yuan ($1.64 billion). Though encouraged by the initial yield, China remains cautious, restricting the system to only the power sector rather than a host of sectors, and is prepared to allow the mechanism as many as three to five years to mature before it can be fully up and running.

电力市场碳排放图源：互联网

Unfortunately, China’s prudence is interpreted by some observers as just a gesture of care and concern instead of keen determination to cut the emissions from coal-fired power plants.

In fact, China’s slow pace in launching the full-scale carbon trading scheme results from its keen awareness of the complexity and difficulty of the task. On one hand, balancing between the increasing need by the speeding industrial development and the less carbon emission by the power sector which generates more than half of its electricity from burning coal is truly a daunting mission. On the other hand, accurate data collection and metrics designing is highly demanding for a country of little carbon-trading experience like China. Therefore, China’s small steps in the initial rollout is not only justifiable, but rather inevitable.

The target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 is already the highest reduction in carbon intensity in the globe, and China will take the shortest time in the world history to drop from carbon peak to carbon neutrality, which, as President Xi described, will undoubtedly be a "hard battle". The fact that China is ready to honor such a pledge demonstrates fully China's resolve as firm as any other country in the world, if not firmer, in addressing climate change.

Some other criticism against China’s emissions trading scheme includes that it won’t help China tame emissions “yet”, and that the opening price of 48 yuan is rather low, and that the accuracy and transparency of the emissions data will be a big concern.

It seems that they have simply expected China’s carbon market to ripen on its very first day. However, such a program is never an instant remedy anywhere in the world. China never means to make it the silver bullet against emissions, but only an effective additional tool that will gradually help propel China towards its decarbonization goal.

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, described the launch of China’s carbon trading scheme as "an important milestone in its progress on climate action”. China is fully aware that there is still a long way to go before it can get the scheme to play its due role fully, where patience and discretion will be the best strategy.

全国碳市场交易启动图源：互联网

“All foam, no beer” is never China’s working style.

As a determined activist and doer in global climate governance, China will stick to its own path and pace towards its goal, either in building the largest carbon-trading market, or its long-term net-zero target.

来源 | South China Morning Post

编辑 | 徐萌

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