Guangdong will add six industrial sectors to its pilot emissions trading scheme, the provincial government said, potentially more than tripling the number of companies facing a cap on their CO2 emissions.

A total of 431 companies in ceramics, textiles, non-ferrous metal, chemicals, paper and aviation have been asked to provide their historical CO2 emissions over 2012-2014 to the government by October, the Guangdong DRC announced.

After analysing the data, the DRC will decide which companies will be included in the ETS. The statement did not specify if the companies would be involved from 2015 or 2016.

The Guangdong scheme is the biggest of China’s seven pilot markets. The government has issued 408 million allowances for 2015, of which the 186 participating firms received 370 million, with the rest put into various reserves.

In recent weeks market liquidity has improved, with 4.85 million allowances changing hands since July 1, compared to 3.2 million in the scheme’s first 20 months.

The total emissions of the 431 potential newcomers are not known, but they all each emit more than 20,000 tonnes of CO2 or consume more than 10,000 tonnes of standard coal per year.

The potential expansion might be in response to the likely delay of the national ETS.

China originally intended to launch the national market in late 2016, but it seems increasingly likely this won’t happen until early 2017, meaning the seven pilot markets are probably facing an additional year of operation.

Shanghai said last month it is considering increasing the sectors covered and making several rule changes if its market will carry on for an additional year.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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