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China’s emissions trading takes steps towards big ambitions

Nature Climate Change volume 8, pages 265–267 (2018)Cite this article

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China recently announced its national emissions trading scheme, advancing market-based approaches to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Its evolution over coming years will determine whether it becomes an effective part of China’s portfolio of climate policies.

To date, China has used a mix of different policy instruments to reduce emissions, relying mainly on direct state interventions such as mandating the closure of high-polluting plants, steering investment towards cleaner technologies and less resource-intensive industries, and requiring industrial firms to improve energy efficiency. At the same time, there has been a broader drive towards greater ‘marketization’ of China’s economy and the introduction of economic policy instruments should be seen in this context.

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Fig. 1: China’s CO2 emissions, emissions intensity, and emissions intensity target trajectory.
Fig. 2: China’s electricity generation and emissions from electricity generation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Frank Jotzo

  2. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Valerie Karplus

  3. UCL Institute of Sustainable Resources, London, England

    Michael Grubb

  4. Center for Applied Economic Research, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Andreas Löschel

  5. Institute of Global Low-carbon Economy, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

    Andreas Löschel

  6. German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    Karsten Neuhoff

  7. Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Karsten Neuhoff

  8. School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Libo Wu

  9. Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Fei Teng

Authors
  1. Frank Jotzo
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  2. Valerie Karplus
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  3. Michael Grubb
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  4. Andreas Löschel
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  5. Karsten Neuhoff
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  6. Libo Wu
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  7. Fei Teng
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Correspondence to Frank Jotzo or Libo Wu.

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Jotzo, F., Karplus, V., Grubb, M. et al. China’s emissions trading takes steps towards big ambitions. Nature Clim Change 8, 265–267 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0130-0

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