The carbon emissions of key petrochemical enterprises are included in the scope of verification
On October 18, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Enterprises in Some Key Industries in 2023~2025" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which included key enterprises in the petrochemical and chemical industries with annual greenhouse gas emissions of 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (comprehensive energy consumption of about 10,000 tons of standard coal) and above into the scope of greenhouse gas emission reporting and verification. It is also required to complete the verification of corporate carbon emission reports before December 31 each year.
The "Notice" proposes that when calculating the emissions corresponding to the net purchase of electricity at the enterprise level or the electricity consumed at the facility level, the emissions corresponding to the non-fossil energy electricity directly supplied to enterprises in key industries and not connected to the municipal power grid and used by enterprises for their own use (including the situation of grid connection and surplus electricity connection) shall be calculated as 0, and enterprises in key industries shall provide relevant supporting materials. Enterprises that purchase and use non-fossil energy electricity through market-based transactions are required to separately report the electricity consumption and provide relevant supporting materials (including the "Green Electricity Consumption Certificate" or the transaction and settlement certificate of direct power supply, excluding the green power certificate), and the corresponding emissions are temporarily calculated according to the average carbon emission factor of the national power grid. In 2022, the average carbon emission factor of the national power grid is 0.5703 tons CO₂/MWh, and the subsequent annual factor is released through the management platform.
In this regard, industry experts believe that the issuance of the "Notice" indicates that the next batch of national carbon market participants are about to enter the market. Among them, the "Notice" proposed that "for the non-fossil energy electricity directly used by enterprises in key industries and not integrated into the municipal power grid and used by enterprises themselves, the corresponding emissions shall be calculated as 0", which has attracted social attention. On the one hand, this provision means that companies in the petrochemical industry that can generate their own electricity and use non-fossil energy sources can enjoy green electricity credits when calculating carbon emissions, and will benefit from the national carbon allowance market. On the other hand, the Notice proposes such a calculation method, which may be in line with the recognition method of electricity when carbon tariffs are imposed. Therefore, petrochemical enterprises with relevant needs should prepare in advance. It is also worth noting that the "Notice" has greatly updated the relevant reporting requirements, and the current report has completely abandoned the text description and presented it all in the form of a table, which is more convenient for statistics and management.
