China announces carbon trading scheme by 2016

No Tone, you are........

Soon to be biggest economy in the whole wide world, China has announced it will implement carbon trading.

"Open for business" Tone?

Just two months after Australia trashed its carbon price because it was “too high” and would “trash the economy”, China has flagged that its planned carbon trading scheme will cover 40 per cent of its economy and be worth up to $65 billion. 

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, this week outlined its initial plans for a nationwide market to slow down the rapid growth of greenhouse gas emissions in China. 

The NRDC said it is likely to regulate 3 to 4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (nearly 8 times Australia’s entire annual emissions) by 2020 and the market will be worth up to 400 billion yuan ($65 billion). 

This would make the market twice as big as the EU market, which is currently the world’s biggest. China plans to start a national market in 2016. 

Dr Frank Jotzo, from ANU’s Climate Change Institute, and an expert on carbon markets, said the scheme as outlined by NRDC officials suggests a carbon price of around $18 a tonne, compared to Australia fixed price of around d $25/tonne and the EU price of around $10/tonne. 

“It’s no surprise that there will be a national emissions trading scheme in China,” Jotzo told RenewEconomy. “What did come as a surprise was the announcement that the plan is for a 2016 start, when most experts were expecting a start closer to 2020. more