WUHAN/BEIJING, CHINA: China’s Hubei province launched its carbon market on 2 April 2014, imposing caps on greenhouse gas emissions from 140 major energy and industrial emitters. Hubei became the sixth region in China to introduce a market to halt rapid growth in carbon emissions, blamed by scientists for causing climate change. China is the world’s biggest-emitting nation, and Beijing wants to use markets to reduce its emissions per unit of GDP to 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
The Hubei government has issued 292.2 million permits to scheme participants for the first year of the scheme, according to a government document seen by Reuters last week, equal to 97 per cent of their 2010 emissions. The biggest company in the market will be Wuhan Iron and Steel, one of China’s largest metals producers, which has 28 facilities included.
Hubei firms can use offset credits, known as Chinese Certified Emissions Reductions (CCERs), to cover for up to 10 per cent of their emissions, but are restricted to using credits from projects located in the province. Companies that fail to comply with the scheme will be fined ¥150,000 ($24,382) and given fewer free permits the following year.
© Reuters News