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A comparative analysis of Chinese regional climate regulation policy: ETS as an example

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Abstract

An effective and powerful regulation is indispensable for the development and smooth operation of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS). Seven regional pilot ETSs have been established and gradually improved in China, from which the experiences and lessons learned may provide useful references to facilitate China’s national ETS regulation. This article systematically reviews and compares the practices and policies of carbon trading regulation in China’s seven pilot schemes from three major aspects of regulatory institutions and subjects, regulatory objects and content, and regulatory means and techniques, and covering both internal and external regulatory architectures. The comparative analysis has demonstrated that the regional pilot schemes have made notable achievements in developing ETS regulatory systems with Chinese characteristics, but they still have considerable deficiencies. Referencing both international and domestic pilot experiences, this study recommends that China’s national ETS improve regulatory institutional basis, foster an extensive participation of pluralistic regulatory subjects with a clear division of powers and responsibilities, establish effective regulatory systems on carbon finance, and continuously enrich regulatory techniques and platforms.

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Notes

  1. As CO2 emissions take the largest share of global GHG emissions, this study mainly focuses on CO2 emissions and hereafter calls it as carbon emissions.

  2. Beijing and Shenzhen pilot schemes made a capacity expansion of their ETSs in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

  3. Before 2018, the competent departments of climate change mitigation and adaptation, CO2 emission regulation, and emission trading scheme are the central and local DRCs in China. In April, 2018, China initiates a national institutional restructuring program and transfers climate-change-related powers and responsibilities from the DRC to the newly formed Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), at both national and local levels. China is presently going through a transition period during which the MEEs have been gradually replacing the DRCs in charge of ETS regulation and management. After that, the central and local MEEs will become as the competent departments of China’s ETS and take over major administrative regulation works.

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Acknowledgements

This study is very grateful for the support of the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2017A030313442) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71603110 and 71803074). Additional support was provided by the Discipline Development Project of the Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) on Combating Climate Change and Low-Carbon Economics, and by the Southern University of Science and Technology (Grant No. G01296001).

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  1. Jingjing Jiang and Bin Ye have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

    Jingjing Jiang

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Bin Ye

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  1. Jingjing Jiang
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  2. Bin Ye
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Correspondence to Jingjing Jiang.

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Jiang, J., Ye, B. A comparative analysis of Chinese regional climate regulation policy: ETS as an example. Environ Geochem Health 42, 819–840 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00310-w

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