Ministry of Ecology and Environment: The recent rise in carbon prices is in line with current reality

Since the launch of the national carbon emissions trading market, quota prices have generally remained stable and rising. However, quota prices have shown an overall upward trend recently and remain at around 80 yuan/ton. In this regard, at a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on October 27, Xia Yingxian, Director of the Department of Climate Change Response of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the moderate increase in carbon prices reflects its market attributes and is in line with current reality.

According to Xia Yingxian, as of October 25, the cumulative transaction volume of carbon emission quotas was 365 million tons, and the cumulative transaction volume was 19.437 billion yuan. The carbon price was maintained at 50 to 80 yuan/ton, forming a carbon price that is in line with China’s current reality. In the future, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will study the establishment of a market adjustment mechanism and take measures such as early warning of contract performance risks to adjust market supply and demand, enhance market vitality, and ensure the healthy, stable and orderly operation of the market.

Xia Yingxian said that the realization of the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goal requires the joint efforts of the whole society. It is urgent to include more qualified industries into the national carbon emissions trading market to reduce the cost of emission reduction for the whole society. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment conducts annual carbon emission accounting report verification work nationwide every year for petrochemical, chemical, building materials, steel, non-ferrous metals, papermaking, civil aviation and other industries, and collects data from more than 6,000 companies. The above-mentioned seven industries and the power generation industry The total direct emissions combined account for more than 70% of the country’s total; at the same time, special studies were organized on the quota allocation methods, accounting and reporting methods, verification points, and expansion implementation paths for the above seven industries. In the next step, priority will be given to include industries that have a large contribution to achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, have serious overcapacity, have great synergy potential for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and have a good data quality foundation. Each mature industry will be included in the industry.