Beijing expects to link its pilot emissions trading scheme to more cities and regions elsewhere in China before the end of the year, according to a municipal government official.
The Beijing market has already linked to cities in two other provinces and more are set to follow, Zhang Yumei of the Beijing Development and Reform Commission told a conference this week, according to local newspaper Beijing Daily.
She did not say which regions might join the capital’s carbon market.
Adding more regions could bring some much-needed liquidity to the Beijing market while offering the newcomers valuable experience in carbon trading ahead of the national ETS launch late next year.
Beijing became the first of China’s seven pilots to bring in emitters from other provinces when a handful of cement producers from Chengde in Hebei province joined last year.
In March this year, cement producers and power generators, including some big coal-fired power plants, in Hohhot and Ordos in Inner Mongolia were brought in.
The government has not released any data, but observers say the Inner Mongolian firms are likely to have doubled the amount of CO2 emissions regulated by the scheme, which had started at 50 million tonnes in 2013.
So far the move has not significantly pushed up trading volumes, but some of the Inner Mongolian generators are expected to introduce new demand to the market ahead of the June compliance deadline.
On Friday, Beijing Emissions Allowances (BEAs) closed at 49.70 yuan ($7.67).
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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