When will the free allowances for key carbon emission units in Beijing be issued? The announcement is coming

Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued a notice on doing a good job in the management of carbon emission units and carbon emission trading in the city in 2024.

The reporter noted that compared with the notice in 2023, key carbon emission units are still encouraged to use green electricity this year, and the carbon emissions of green electricity purchased and used by key carbon emission units through market-oriented means in 2023 will be zero, but it is particularly emphasized that the carbon emission accounting and green power consumption mechanism will be further improved in the future.

In addition, key emitting enterprises should note that allowances will be issued in two ways: free and paid, with free of charge as the main and paid as a supplement. The free allowances issued by key carbon emitting units shall be approved in accordance with the industry accounting method, and a 20% upper limit on the surplus and deficit of allowances shall be set。

The Beijing Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment will complete the pre-issuance of free quotas by July 15, 2024, and the issuance of free quotas by September 15, 2024, and carry out the issuance of paid quotas from time to time.

In addition, this circular encourages voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction activities, and encourages qualified institutions to develop and implement carbon inclusive projects based on the methodology. The carbon emission reductions of low-carbon travel, oil-to-electric passenger cars, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle projects shall be calculated in accordance with the "Beijing Carbon Inclusive Project Methodology Low-carbon Travel (Trial)", "Beijing Carbon Inclusive Project Methodology Oil-to-Electric Passenger Car (Trial)", and "Beijing Carbon Inclusive Project Methodology Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (Trial)". The emission reductions of the projects approved and issued can be used to offset carbon emissions in accordance with relevant regulations.

The deadline for the settlement of carbon emission allowances is November 15, 2024, and key carbon emitting entities should complete the settlement through the management platform before that. Key carbon emitting units may use carbon emission reductions to offset part of their carbon emissions, and the proportion of carbon emissions used shall not be higher than 5% of the approved carbon emissions of the current year.