China Aims to Unify Carbon Trading Platform by 2015, News Says

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, plans to set up a unified national carbon- trading platform by 2015, Beijing News reported, citing Tang Maosong, director of the China Beijing Environmental Exchange.

The report didn’t give details of the plan. China said previously that it plans to accelerate the development of a carbon-trading system to help cut emissions.

The nation is taking measures to meet a target of cutting the quantity of carbon it emits per unit of economic output by as much as 45 percent in 2020 from 2005 levels.

China is working on setting up a carbon-trading market and there is no time-frame for the plan, Su Wei, head of climate- change negotiations at the National Development and Reform Commission, said June 21.

It plans to start carbon-trading pilot programs in the cities of Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin and the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong during the five years through 2015, the China Securities Journal reported May 27, without citing anybody.

A cap-and-trade system puts a price on carbon by setting limits on the quantity of emissions that polluters can produce. Those exceeding the limit must buy credits to offset their emissions, while those that emit less can sell their balance in the carbon market.

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