On 30 March 2021, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of China published new draft national ETS legislation that refines existing measures and places them on a higher level in the Chinese legal hierarchy.

The “Interim Regulations for the Management of Carbon Emissions Trading”, now open for public  consultation, would establish a more robust legal foundation for the policy moving forward. They mark another key step of MEE’s efforts to set up State-Council level legislation as a more solid legal basis for the national ETS.

Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission (then the ministry responsible for climate change) developed a draft version of this regulation in March 2016, and the MEE developed an initial revised draft in April 2019 after taking over responsibility for climate policy.

Compared to the current National Measures on emissions trading, which is a departmental regulation, the Interim Regulations are one level higher in the Chinese legal hierarchy and will replace the National Measures once they’re finalized. There is no specific timeline for the finalization of the legislative process, while Chinese media have reported a senior MEE official expects it to be by the end of 2021. 

Guest post from ICAP