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China publishes two major policy drafts for national ETS
REEI 2020/11/03
On 2 November 2020, the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) issued two policy documents on the national ETS establishing regulatory authority and specifying general rules in key areas of market operation and design.
The two documents, entitled “The National Measures for the Administration of Carbon Emission Trading (Trial),” hereafter the National Measures, and “The Administrative Measures for the Registration, Trading, and Settlement of the National Carbon Emission Rights (Trial)” are now under public consultation. The deadlines for submitting comments are 1 December 2020 and 11 November 2020, respectively.
The National Measures aim to provide the legal basis for the upcoming national system and supersede interim measures published in 2014. In December 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the former national competent authority for climate change, had issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Carbon Emissions Trading (NDRC Order No. 17) to regulate the construction of carbon markets in China. With the re-assignment of climate change responsibilities to the MEE in 2018, the newly drafted National Measures represent an update to adapt to the latest thinking and pathways toward a national ETS.
The release of the National Measures clarifies the level of legislation for the initial phase of the national ETS, which will cover only the power sector. Previously the NDRC had drafted a State Council-level regulation on national ETS (Zanxing Tiaoli), but the legislative process was not concluded before the re-assignment of climate responsibilities as part of a wider government restructuring. MEE has made it clear that the National Measures are to be issued in the form of departmental regulation, which is subject to future review and revision. This level of regulation is lower in the legal hierarchy compared to the State Council regulation, with implications for the level of financial fines it could impose. By stating “matters that cannot be stipulated by the departmental regulation will be arranged by the national regulation (Zanxing Tiaoli)”, it also leaves space for the further development of higher-level legislation as the national ETS expands and further develops.
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