China is scheduled to kick off its long-awaited national carbon market on Friday, the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange said on Thursday in a statement, reported Caixin.
The Shanghai exchange is responsible for managing accounts and operations of the national carbon trading system until a dedicated agency is created. Caixin learned that an opening ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday at separate venues in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan before trading officially starts.
In late June, the country’s five largest power generation companies submitted carbon emission quotas they plan to trade on the market, a source at a state-owned power company told Caixin. The first batch involves more than 2,000 power generation companies, which account for more than 40% of China’s energy-related carbon emissions.
China’s national carbon market is expected to become the world’s largest, outpacing Europe’s, as total annual carbon emissions of just the first batch of companies involved amount to more than 4 billion tons, according to official estimates.