A national carbon trade program has been a hot topic as soon as
China decided to launch it in 2016. Following the publication of
the Interim Measure for Management of Carbon Emission Trade
(Interim Measure) in December 2014, discussions about the
"national cap," the quantity of exchanges and carbon
finance are at the forefront.
National cap
Article 8 of the Interim Measure clarifies that the carbon trade
office of the State Council is responsible for distributing
allowances to each province, based on the consideration of emission
volume, economic developments, industrial structure, energy
structure and the important emission entities—making it a
challenge to determine a national cap at the current stage, while
considering the basic situation of each province. For example,
Shanxi is a big energy-producing and energy-consuming province
which has only achieved 62 percent of its energy conservation and
emission reduction target of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan,
