China has released the names of another batch of projects deemed eligible to generate carbon offsets, of which nine will be able to supply around 1.1 million CCERs annually to compliance buyers in the pilot emissions trading schemes and the national ETS.

Over the past two days, the NDRC has published design documents for 17 projects that have been given the go-ahead under China’s national offset programme (two of them were published in Dec.).

The approvals themselves were awarded in July, but not reported until now.

The approvals included nine Category 1 and 2 projects that can generate a total of 1.15 million CCERs annually, offsets that will be eligible in most of the seven pilot markets and most likely also in the national ETS that launches next year.

Another eight projects belonged in Category 3, so-called pre-CDM projects. They will be eligible to get almost 1.2 million CCERs annually for the years they have applied to receive offsets for, but it is unclear who would buy them as they are not useable in the pilot markets.

The NDRC has yet to decide on whether Category 3 CCERs will be eligible in the national market.

Earlier this week, analysts at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon warned that many of the offset projects approved by the NDRC might eventually end up being stranded as they take place in sectors that will be covered by the national ETS, and the government has yet to explain how potential double-counting will be addressed.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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