1. What is carbon trading?
Carbon trading, that is, taking the carbon dioxide emission right as a commodity, the buyer obtains a certain amount of carbon dioxide emission right by paying a certain amount to the seller, thus forming a carbon dioxide emission right trading.
Carbon trading market is an artificially created market by the government through emission control of energy consuming enterprises. Usually, the government determines a total carbon emission and allocates carbon emission quotas to enterprises according to certain rules. If the future emissions of enterprises are higher than the quota, they need to buy the quota in the market. At the same time, some enterprises can sell excess quotas through the carbon trading market if their final carbon emissions are lower than their quota by adopting energy-saving and emission reduction technologies. The two sides generally trade through the carbon emission exchange.
In the first case, if the enterprise's emission reduction cost is lower than the carbon trading market price, the enterprise will choose emission reduction, and the share generated by emission reduction can be sold to make a profit;
In the second case, when the emission reduction cost of enterprises is higher than the carbon market price, they will choose to purchase from the government, enterprises or other market entities with quotas in the carbon market to achieve the emission reduction target issued by the government. If the quota is not purchased in sufficient quantity to cover its actual emissions, it will face high fines.
Through this set of design, the carbon trading market internalizes carbon emissions into a part of the enterprise's operating cost, and the carbon emission price formed by the transaction guides enterprises to choose the most cost-effective carbon reduction means, including energy conservation and emission reduction transformation, carbon quota purchase, or carbon capture. The market-oriented method makes the industrial structure transform from high energy consumption to low energy consumption, The cost of emission reduction in the whole society remains optimized.
2. What is carbon emission?
Carbon emission is the process of releasing greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride) to the outside world in the process of human production and business activities.
Carbon emission is considered to be one of the main causes of global warming. The largest proportion (54%) of China's carbon emissions comes from the combustion of fossil fuels in the production links of power and heating departments.
3. What is carbon peak?
In a broad sense, carbon peaking means that at a certain point in time, carbon dioxide emissions will no longer increase, reach the peak, and then gradually fall back. According to the introduction of the World Resources Research Institute, carbon peaking is a process, that is, carbon emissions first enter the platform period and can fluctuate within a certain range, and then enter the stage of steady decline.
Carbon peaking is the prerequisite for carbon neutralization. Realizing carbon peaking as soon as possible can promote the early realization of carbon neutralization.
Therefore, combined with the time nodes of China's commitment: 1) from now to 2030, China's carbon emissions will still be in a climbing period; 2) In the 20 years from 2030 to 2060, carbon emissions will go through the platform period and finally complete the task of emission reduction.
4. What is carbon neutralization?
Carbon neutralization means that enterprises, groups or individuals calculate the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly within a certain period of time, and then offset their own carbon dioxide emissions through afforestation, energy conservation and emission reduction, so as to achieve "zero emission" of carbon dioxide.
5. What is carbon sink?
Carbon sink: generally refers to the process, activity and mechanism of removing carbon dioxide from the air. It mainly refers to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed and stored by the forest, or the ability of the forest to absorb and store carbon dioxide.
The research data show that China's carbon sequestration capacity has been gradually improved. Through vigorously cultivating and protecting artificial forests, China's terrestrial ecosystem absorbed about 1.11 billion tons of carbon every year from 2010 to 2016, accounting for 45% of man-made carbon emissions in the same period. It can be seen that forestry carbon sequestration plays an important role in the carbon neutralization vision, and the carbon sequestration project will help China achieve the carbon neutralization goal.
6. What is carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUs)?
Carbon capture, utilization and storage, referred to as CCUs, is a technology that captures and purifies the carbon dioxide emitted in the production process, and then puts it into the new production process for recycling or storage. Among them, carbon capture refers to collecting the carbon dioxide generated by emission sources such as large power plants, steel plants and cement plants and storing it in various ways to avoid its emission into the atmosphere.
This technology has the synergy of large-scale greenhouse gas emission reduction and low-carbon utilization of fossil energy. It is one of the important technical options for global response to climate change in the future.
7. What is carbon emission right (CER)?
The origin of carbon emission right, namely certified emission reduction (CER). In 2005, with the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, carbon emission right became an international commodity. The subject of carbon emission right trading is called "certified emission reduction (CER)".
Where do emissions come from? Quota primary market and secondary market coexist.
1) The primary market is generally the market for the initial distribution of quotas by the provincial development and reform commissions, which is divided into free distribution and paid distribution.
Among them, the paid distribution is accompanied by a bidding mechanism, which follows the principle of paid quota and the same right and price, and is carried out in the form of closed bidding.
2) The secondary market is the market for trading by enterprises or investment institutions.
8. What are carbon emission quotas, voluntary emission reductions (ccers)?
According to the classification of carbon trading, there are two types of basic products in China's carbon trading market, one is the carbon emission quota allocated by the government to enterprises, and the other is certified voluntary emission reduction (CCER).
In the measures for the administration of Carbon Emission Trading (Trial) issued in December 2020, it is pointed out that CCER refers to the greenhouse gas emission reduction registered in the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction transaction registration system by quantifying and certifying the greenhouse gas emission reduction effects of renewable energy, forestry carbon sink, methane utilization and other projects in China.
The first category, quota trading, is a policy means adopted by the government to achieve the emission control goal, that is, in a certain space and time, convert the emission control goal into carbon emission quota and allocate it to lower level governments and enterprises. If the actual carbon emission of the enterprise is less than the quota allocated by the government, the enterprise can trade excess carbon quota, To achieve the reasonable allocation of carbon quotas in different enterprises, and finally achieve the goal of emission control at a relatively low cost.
The second category, as a supplement, introduces voluntary emission reduction market transactions outside the quota market, namely CCER transactions. The CCER transaction accuses enterprises of purchasing certified amounts that can be used to offset their own carbon emissions from enterprises implementing "carbon offset" activities.
"Carbon offset" refers to the activities used to reduce greenhouse gas emission sources or increase greenhouse gas absorption sinks to compensate or offset greenhouse gas emissions from other emission sources, that is, the carbon emissions of controlled emission enterprises can be offset by non controlled emission enterprises using clean energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon sinks. The offset credit is issued after the emission reduction is obtained through the implementation of specific emission reduction projects, including renewable energy projects, forest carbon sequestration projects, etc.
The carbon market gives CCER an alternative carbon emission quota in the ratio of 1:1, that is, one CCER is equal to one quota, which can offset the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent, The measures for the administration of Carbon Emission Trading (for Trial Implementation) stipulates that key emission units can use national certified voluntary emission reductions to offset the payment of carbon emission quotas every year, and the offset proportion shall not exceed 5% of the payable carbon emission quotas.
