China Plans Pilot Pollution Emission Trading Scheme
Date: 05-Mar-07
Country: CHINA
The ministry gave no details on when the scheme might be rolled out or which pollutants it would cover, although Beijing is clamping down hard on acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide. "(We) have chosen the power industry and the Lake Tai water basin to develop a scheme of commercial rights to emit pollutants and a pilot trading system for emission rights," according to excerpts of the annual work report seen by Reuters.
Lake Tai is near the financial hub of Shanghai, and other economic centres including Suzhou and Hangzhou.
The South China Morning Post reported last year that China was planning a sulphur dioxide emissions trading scheme that would require power stations to buy emission rights to cover their expected sulphur dioxide discharges.
They would be able to sell any spare quota to other polluters that failed to meet the government's targets.
A work report from the energy policy setting National Development and Reform Commission said China, the world's top emitter of sulphur dioxide, also planned to increase the on-grid power price for generators with desulphurising equipment.
However, enforcement problems have plagued the country's relatively weak environmental watchdog, and the NDRC said it would deduct the price supplement from generators that don't use installed equipment, and punish them strictly.
The trading scheme would not likely cover carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. China has not set emissions targets for these gases internally or under international agreements.
But in a rare nod to global warming concerns, the NDRC report said energy saving policies could trim emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses by 156 million tonnes over the five years to 2010.
