The relevant person in charge of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment answered reporters' questions on the "Implementation Plan for the Setting and Allocation of the Total National Carbon Emission Trading Quota in 20
Recently, with the approval of the Leading Group for Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued and implemented the Implementation Plan for the Setting and Allocation of Total National Carbon Emission Trading Quotas in 2021 and 2022 (Power Generation Industry) (hereinafter referred to as the "Quota Plan"). In view of the key contents of the "Quota Plan", the relevant person in charge of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment introduced the relevant situation.
Q: What are the basic principles followed in the preparation of the Quota Plan, which is an important basic institutional document for the national carbon market?
Answer:The quota allocation system is an important basic system of the national carbon market, and it is the cornerstone to ensure the healthy, stable and orderly operation of the carbon market and achieve policy goals. The Quota Plan stipulates the 2021 and 2022 quota accounting and allocation methods for the power generation industry in the national carbon market, and clarifies the management processes for quota issuance, adjustment, settlement and performance. The main principles followed in the preparation of the Quota Plan are "three adherences".
The first is to insist on serving the overall situation. With the goal of helping China achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, we will fully consider the international and domestic economic situation, ensure energy supply and other factors, and reasonably design the plan on the basis of ensuring that the total quota growth meets the growth requirements of the power industry for economic and social development. The "Quota Scheme" adopts the idea of intensity-based quota allocation, which does not require enterprises to absolutely reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but is based on actual output, that is, the larger the actual power supply and heat supply, the more quotas will be obtained, which will not restrict electricity production and will not affect the guarantee of power supply.
The second is to persist in seeking progress while maintaining stability. The quota allocation plan for 2021 and 2022 basically continues the overall framework of 2019-2020, with the overall idea of quota allocation, the scope of coverage unchanged, and the relevant work processes basically unchanged. At the same time, we adhere to the problem-oriented approach, continue to improve the quota allocation method, consolidate the data foundation, improve the level of information management, optimize and adjust the benchmark value of power supply and heating supply of various units, and ensure that the total quota and total emissions of the industry are basically the same.
The third is to adhere to policy orientation. Encourage large-capacity, high-energy-efficiency, low-emission units and units that undertake cogeneration tasks, so that enterprises with better carbon emission management level and low emission level can obtain benefits by selling surplus allowances, and enterprises with relatively poor carbon emission management level and high emission level need to purchase quotas and establish a value orientation of "carbon emission has a cost, carbon reduction has benefits". In the process of quota allocation, the correction factor of cooling mode, heat supply and load (output) coefficient are used to encourage units to provide heat in a wider range and participate in power peak regulation, so as to give full play to the guiding role of the carbon market in optimizing the power supply structure and promoting the clean and low-carbon transformation of the power industry.
Q: What are the improvements and optimizations of the Quota Plan released this time compared with the first compliance cycle?
Answer:Compared with the quota allocation plan for the first compliance cycle, the quota allocation method for 2021 and 2022 has maintained the continuity and stability of the policy as a whole, and at the same time, it has been adjusted and optimized in combination with the new spirit, new situation, new tasks of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the actual situation of the industry's technological progress, and has been optimized in terms of annual division, balance value, benchmark value, and correction coefficient of quota management, which can be summarized as "five more".
First, the annual management of quotas is implemented, and the daily management is more refined. In order to better align with the annual targets of China's carbon emission management, and promote the normalized management of quota pre-allocation, verification, and settlement according to natural years, different from the practice of adopting the same quota allocation benchmark value in 2019 and 2020 and merging the performance of the two years, different quota allocation benchmark values were adopted in 2021 and 2022. Based on the actual emissions of the previous year, the benchmark value for the second year is determined, which makes the benchmark value more in line with the actual situation of the industry, reflecting the trend of increasing energy efficiency and decreasing carbon emissions per unit of output in the power generation industry year by year. In 2021 and 2022, quotas will be issued and implementation will be carried out respectively, especially when the quota gap rate is calculated by year when the quota gap rate is implemented and the implementation of the compliance exemption mechanism is implemented.
Second, the balance value was introduced for the first time, and the information release was more transparent. The construction and operation of the national carbon market in 2019-2020 has effectively promoted the improvement of enterprises' awareness and ability of carbon emission management, and the proportion of units with measured coal-fired element carbon content in 2020 has increased significantly, resulting in the overall carbon emission intensity calculation results of the industry being about 10% lower than the enterprise emission data based on the benchmark value, making the benchmark value in 2021 and 2022 significantly different from that in 2019-2020. In order to facilitate a better understanding by all sectors of society, the Quota Scheme introduces a balanced value. The balance value is the carbon emission intensity value corresponding to the balance between the carbon emission quota of power supply and heat supply of various units and their verified emissions (the amount of quota to be paid), and is an important reference basis for formulating the benchmark value of power supply and heat supply.
The third is to optimize the setting of the benchmark value for quota allocation, and make the policy guidance clearer. Based on the balance value of various types of units in 2021, the "Quota Plan" fully considers the technological progress of the power generation industry in accordance with the principles of overall balance of quotas, affordability of industry enterprises, encouragement of the advanced, and punishment of backwardness, and on the basis of the benchmark value of the first performance cycle, the benchmark value of carbon emissions from power supply and heating supply of various units has been optimized and adjusted, so that the benchmark value in 2021 and 2022 can truly reflect the actual level of carbon emissions in the industry. The policy orientation of restraining inefficient units is in line with the current requirements of carbon emission management.
The fourth is to adjust the scope of application of the correction coefficient of the load (output) coefficient of the unit, and the people's livelihood security policy is more prominent. In order to reflect the support of the national carbon market for efficient heat supply production, in 2021 and 2022, the load (output) coefficient correction factor will also be used in the quota allocation of conventional coal-fired cogeneration units, and quota compensation will be given for the low-load operation of cogeneration units, reflecting the policy orientation of "ensuring heat supply and people's livelihood".
Fifth, the burden on the grassroots and enterprises has been reduced, and the measures to benefit enterprises have been more abundant. By simplifying the rules, the level of informatization will be improved and the burden on the grassroots will be reduced. In the pre-allocation process, 70% of the verified emissions of the unit in 2021 are used as the pre-allocated quota of each unit in 2021 and 2022, which simplifies the calculation method of pre-allocated quotas, which is convenient for operation and conducive to improving work efficiency. Reduce the burden on enterprises through the exemption policy for the upper limit of the compliance gap rate, the exemption mechanism for gas-fired power units, and the flexible mechanism for the 2023 quota to be advanced. Improve the quota issuance workflow, rely on the information platform to carry out quota review and issuance, realize intelligent quota management, ensure the accuracy of data and the consistency of calculation methods, and improve work efficiency and quality.
Q: In 2021 and 2022, some thermal power units will face greater operating pressure due to various factors such as the epidemic and energy supply assurance.
Answer:Taking into account the impact of the epidemic in 2021 and 2022 and the pressure of energy supply, in order to effectively alleviate the performance burden of the power generation industry, the Quota Plan continues the implementation of the performance exemption mechanism for gas-fired power units and enterprises with large quota gaps in the previous compliance cycle, and adds a flexible performance mechanism and a personalized relief mechanism.
The first is to continue to control the quota gap of enterprises with large quota gaps in the approved quota link, and adopt the method of clearing quota exemptions, so that when the annual quota amount approved by key emitting enterprises is less than 80% of the verified emissions, the amount of allowances that should be issued is equal to 80% of the annual verified emissions. It is estimated that this policy will reduce the burden on 306 enterprises in 2021.
Second, considering that enterprises will face greater operating pressure in 2021 and 2022 due to various factors such as the epidemic and energy supply, we will increase the flexible mechanism that can advance quotas for 2023 to alleviate the pressure on key emitting enterprises due to quota compliance. For key emitting enterprises with a quota gap rate of more than 10% (inclusive), if they are unable to complete their compliance on time through the purchase of allowances due to operational difficulties, they can advance the allocation amount from the pre-allocated quota in 2023 to complete the performance, and the amount of advance shall not exceed 50% of the quota gap.
Third, in order to scientifically, accurately and effectively reduce the compliance burden of key emitting enterprises, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will coordinate and study personalized relief plans for key emitting enterprises that undertake major tasks of ensuring people's livelihood and are still difficult to complete their compliance after implementing the compliance exemption mechanism and flexible mechanism.
Q: How is the quota of a power generation enterprise calculated, how are the benchmark values and correction factors in the calculation formula determined, and why are these correction factors set?
Answer:Carbon emission quota is the corresponding carbon dioxide emission limit of generator sets owned by key emitting enterprises, and the quota in 2021 and 2022 will be allocated free of charge, and the benchmark method will be used to calculate the unit quota, and the calculation formula is as follows: unit quota = power supply benchmark value× unit power supply × correction factor + heating supply benchmark value × unit heat supply.
The benchmark value reflects the average carbon emission intensity of the industry and is determined in accordance with the principle of overall balance of the total amount of allowances, that is, the total amount of industry allowances issued is basically equal to the total amount of allowances to be paid, and there is no additional burden on the industry. In June 2022, we completed the verification of carbon emission data for the power sector in 2021. The 2021 benchmark value is calculated based on the actual carbon emission data in 2021 with high accuracy, and the 2022 benchmark value is based on the 2021 data, benchmarking the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and based on the repeated annual decline rate of energy intensity and carbon emission intensity of the thermal power industry in recent years.
In order to encourage units to undertake people's livelihood heating, participate in power peak regulation and improve energy efficiency, three correction factors are introduced in the calculation of unit quotas, including load (output) coefficient correction factor, heat supply correction coefficient and cooling mode correction factor.
The load (output) coefficient correction factor is set to encourage thermal power units to participate in peak regulation of the power grid and ensure the grid of renewable energy, so as to make up for the efficiency loss of load reduction and frequent start and stop. The lower the load rate of the thermal power unit, the higher the energy consumption per unit output of the unit. The coefficient is set based on the Energy Consumption Limit per Unit Product of Conventional Coal-fired Generating Units (GB 21258-2017) and the Energy Consumption Limit per Unit Product of Combined Heat and Power Generation (GB 35574-2017), which derive the quantitative relationship between the unit load rate and the energy consumption per unit product through a large number of unit statistics.
The heat supply correction factor is set to meet the actual needs of encouraging coal-fired cogeneration to increase heat supply and replace coal-fired small boilers and loose coal. According to China's current heat and power apportionment method, for cogeneration units, with the increase of heat supply, the overall efficiency of the unit is improved, and the carbon emission intensity of power supply is reduced. The heat supply correction coefficient is based on the statistical fitting of a large number of measured samples, and according to the change curve of power supply carbon emission intensity of coal-fired and gas-fired units under different heat supply ratios, the heat supply correction coefficients of the two types of units are (1-0.22× heat supply ratio) and (1-0.6× heat supply ratio, respectively.
The correction factor of the cooling method is set to encourage the use of air-cooled units in water-scarce areas. This coefficient takes into account the difference in energy consumption per unit product caused by different cooling processes, distinguishes between water-cooled and air-cooled coal-fired units, and corrects the quota of the two types of units through different assignments (the correction coefficient of cooling mode of water-cooled units is 1, and the correction coefficient of air-cooled units is 1.05), which is consistent with the correction coefficients of cooling modes proposed in the Energy Consumption Limit per Unit Product of Conventional Coal-fired Generating Units (GB 21258-2017) and the Energy Consumption Limit per Unit Product of Combined Heat and Power Generation (GB 35574-2017).
Q: The Quota Plan will be released in 2023, but the quotas for 2021 and 2022 will be allocated.
Answer:The compilation of the quota plan follows the principle of adhering to the overall situation of serving the overall situation and seeking progress while maintaining stability, and the calculation of the plan needs to be based on accurate and reliable data, with high requirements for data accuracy, and the overall requirement of quota allocation is to balance supply and demand, and control the surplus and deficiency rate within the predetermined target range as much as possible. In 2021 and 2022, the national carbon market is in the early stage of development, and the level of carbon emission accounting and verification and the ability to supervise data quality need to be improved, especially due to the large changes in the proportion of units with measured coal-fired element carbon content, there is a certain uncertainty in carbon emission data. The use of "ex-ante allocation" requires accurate estimation of carbon emission data, which should be based on high-quality carbon emission data and scientific and accurate analysis and prediction.
For the sake of prudence, we adopt the "post-allocation" approach, continuing the practice of the first compliance cycle, to better ensure that the total allocation of allowances meets the expected targets, and will not cause the industry to reduce emissions due to the contraction of the total allocation too tightly, nor will the carbon market be unable to better play its role in promoting emission reduction due to the overly loose allocation of the total allocation. Since the first compliance cycle has already released policy signals and companies are expecting a decline in the benchmark value of carbon emissions, the "ex-post allocation" will not affect the role of the national carbon market as a policy tool to control greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, most local pilot carbon markets also use "ex post allocation" of allowances, and practice shows that at this stage, the "ex post allocation" method can more accurately control the total amount of quota allocation and the overall emission reduction intensity of the industry.
In the next step, with the continuous improvement of the data quality system of the national carbon market, the gradual improvement of the management level, and the improvement of the timeliness and accuracy of data acquisition, we will actively study how to gradually adjust the specific plan from "ex-post allocation" to "ex-post allocation" or "ex-ante allocation", and clarify expectations to market entities as early as possible.
