China’s national emissions trading scheme (ETS), the world’s largest carbon market covering a seventh of emissions globally, surpassed RMB 10 billion ($1.4 billion) in total transactions on Thursday. Its carbon price and trading volume, however, were both well below expectations, reports the South China Morning Post.
The Shanghai Environmental and Energy Exchange (SEEE), which oversees the ETS, said on Thursday that its trading volume had reached RMB 10.12 billion. The scheme was launched on July 16 last year.
The RMB 10 billion threshold is a milestone for the ETS, which is expected to play an important role in China’s pursuit of carbon neutrality by 2060. The scheme currently regulates 2,162 companies from the country’s power generation sector, which altogether emits around 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.