Carbon market set to start in 2017

China is set to put its national carbon market into operation in 2017 through working with the European Union, the country's top climate change envoy said at the weekend.

Xie Zhenhua said, "In carbon trade, the EU is the teacher and China is a student."

China's special representative on climate change to the ongoing UN climate conference in Paris was speaking on the sidelines of an event on Saturday organized by the EU and attended by EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete.

Xie said earlier that China's carbon emissions will peak by 2030, if not earlier.

Since March last year, the EU has helped China to train more than 1,000 carbon market executives and operators in nearly 20 cooperation programs, Xie said.

In 2011, China started a pilot carbon trading project in seven provinces and cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Shenzhen and Hubei - and has seen encouraging initial benefits in controlling emissions, Xie said.

In December last year, the National Development and Reform Commission, which coordinates China's economic policies at operational level, issued a provisional methodology covering transactions in carbon emission rights.

Xie said that China, as the biggest developing country, still faces special challenges in its attempts to establish a nationwide carbon market, but the nation is determined to succeed.

The EU emissions trading system, launched in 2005, forms the cornerstone of the bloc's policy to combat climate change and is instrumental in reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions in Europe in a cost-effective way.

It covers more than 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 31 countries.

Canete said: "With both the EU and China committed to emissions trading, the two major international players are championing carbon markets as a key policy tool to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is a strong signal that is needed crucially by companies and stakeholders. I am confident it will encourage others to follow suit."

- Xinhua