Status and prospect of the Chinese trading scheme for carbon credits

Given the arduous progress in the international talk on climate change mitigation,there is still uncertainty in the continuation of the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) after 2012.However,a number of countries have regarded market mechanisms as an important approach towards climate change.China’s 12 th Five-year Plan on National Economic and Social Development clearly states that China will set up and improve the system for statistical accounting of greenhouse gas emission and will gradually establish an emission trading scheme.It is expected that in the following couple of years China will develop its own policies on carbon trading and gradually establish its domestic emission trading market.The construction of China carbon market is to be promoted in a voluntary-to-mandatory and regional-to-national manner.China will firstly standardize and promote the trading of voluntary emission reductions,and will then encourage pilot provinces and cities as well as some key industries to implement a policy on emission allowance trading while at the same time facilitating the construction of infrastructural facilities for carbon market operation including climate change legislation and setting up a system for the measurement and verification of carbon emissions.China will also carry out international or bilateral cooperation with foreign carbon trading schemes based on the progress of international negotiation so as to set up a unified domestic carbon market that is linked to international carbon trading schemes.