CCTV News: The Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a work plan for the national carbon emission trading market on March 26, covering the steel, cement and aluminum smelting industries. This is the first time that the national carbon emission trading market has expanded its industry coverage.

The reporter learned at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment that at present, the national carbon emission trading market only covers 2,200 key emission units in the power generation industry, covering an annual carbon dioxide emissions of more than 5 billion tons. The steel, cement and aluminum smelting industries included in this expansion are major carbon emitters, with annual emissions of about 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, accounting for more than 20% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the country.

Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that after this expansion, the national carbon emission trading market is expected to add 1,500 new key emission units, covering the total carbon dioxide emissions in the country will reach more than 60%, and the types of greenhouse gases covered will be expanded to carbon dioxide, carbon tetrafluoride and carbon dioxide hexafluoride.

In July 2021, my country took the power generation industry as a breakthrough to launch the national carbon emission trading market. After nearly four years of development, the market has been operating stably overall, and the effect of green and low-carbon transformation in the power generation industry has gradually emerged. The intensity of full-scope power carbon emissions has decreased by 8.78%, and the emission reduction cost has been reduced by about 35 billion yuan.

News link: What is the carbon emission rights trading market

What exactly is carbon emission rights, and how does the carbon emission rights trading market operate? Come and find out.

Humans consume a large amount of fossil energy in production and life, and at the same time emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. Carbon emission rights trading is actually buying and selling carbon dioxide emission rights as commodities, and this kind of market behavior is used to control the total carbon emissions. After the carbon emission rights trading was initiated, the market mechanism was introduced. Carbon emission rights trading first requires government departments to determine the total carbon emission target for a period of time, and then divide the total amount into several specific quotas, and allocate these quotas to enterprises in the carbon market that need to reduce emissions through free distribution and other means.

To give a simple example, a certain enterprise's annual carbon emission quota is 10,000 tons. If the enterprise reduces carbon emissions to 8,000 tons through technological transformation, then the excess 2,000 tons can be sold in the carbon market. Because other companies need to expand production, the original carbon emission quota is not enough, so they can purchase these sold quotas in the market. This not only controls the total carbon emissions, but also encourages enterprises to reduce emissions by optimizing the energy structure and improving energy efficiency.