On June 29th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held its routine press conference, where they discussed the progress of ecological and environmental law enforcement and reported on recent developments in key environmental protection work. Liu Youbin, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated during the conference that the ministry is currently accelerating the preparations for the launch of the voluntary emissions trading market in accordance with the requirements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and positive progress has been made.
CCER, which stands for Certified Carbon Emission Reduction, is the trading product of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emissions trading market. Advancing the construction of the voluntary emissions trading market is beneficial to support the development of forestry carbon sinks, renewable energy, methane reduction, energy conservation, and efficiency improvement projects. It also encourages broader participation from industries and enterprises in greenhouse gas reduction actions, promoting the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.
In response to the expectations of various sectors of society regarding the launch of the voluntary emissions trading market, Liu Youbin disclosed that positive progress has been made in three aspects of the preparations. This includes clarifying the main institutional arrangements of the voluntary emissions trading market and publicly soliciting methodological suggestions for voluntary emission reduction projects from society through an "open-door decision-making" approach. The basic infrastructure required for the launch of the voluntary emissions trading market has been largely completed.
"Liu Youbin stated, "Currently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in collaboration with relevant departments, has drafted the 'Management Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading (Trial)' as well as supporting management systems for project development and implementation norms, approval and verification rules, etc., and is about to seek public opinions from society." The ministry has established a unified national voluntary emissions registration and trading system, and has drafted registration and trading settlement rules. The two systems have undergone preliminary acceptance and meet the basic conditions for online operation.
"The construction of the voluntary emissions trading market is a complex systematic project. We will accelerate the development of various systems and infrastructure, striving to launch the national voluntary greenhouse gas emissions trading market as early as possible within this year, and uphold market integrity, fairness, and transparency," said Liu Youbin.