"Carbon" has to be compared with the price of Lizhu - the future of petrochemical carbon trading has come
The national carbon emissions trading market has been open for more than two years. As a major carbon emitter, the petroleum and chemical industry has so far not been included. When will petrochemical carbon trading be implemented, what is the progress of the promotion, and what is the response of enterprises? The reporter of "China Chemical Industry News" has been interviewed for several days and learned that it will take time to find this "pearl of the dragon", but industry enterprises generally have the same expectations and have their own plans.
"The future has come" can be regarded as the answer generally agreed by the industry at the end of 2023.
Studies were inconclusive – some were included in the expected process
Jiang Zhaoli, a first-level inspector of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, revealed on December 22 that it will accelerate the establishment of a unified and standardized carbon emission statistical accounting system, actively promote the construction of the national carbon market, continue to improve the national carbon market laws, regulations and policy system, establish and improve the long-term mechanism of data quality management, gradually expand the coverage of the industry, enrich the trading entities, trading varieties and trading methods, and start the voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market as soon as possible.
The reporter learned that on June 17 and July 3 this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment convened the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC and other units to hold two special seminars on the inclusion of the petrochemical industry in the national carbon market. "At present, the petrochemical industry may be included in the national carbon market at the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan." Li Yongliang, director of the General Office of the Petrochemical Federation, said in an interview with reporters that if "the annual carbon dioxide emissions in any year from 2013 to 2018 exceed 26,000 tons of equivalent" as the inclusion threshold, it is estimated that about 3,000 petrochemical enterprises in the country will be included.
In October this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) issued the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial). "This is seen as a prelude to the resumption of China's Certified Voluntary Emission Reductions (CCER)." Lin Lishen, chief analyst of the carbon market of a carbon investment company, told reporters that as an important supplementary means of the carbon market, CCER has not filed and issued new projects and emission reductions for six years since it suspended the filing and review in 2017.
"Many carbon reduction projects want to demonstrate their economic value through the channel of CCER projects." Li Yongliang said, "The resumption of CCER will prompt enterprises to deploy related industries, promote technological progress and investment growth. ”
There are still conditions for advancement - accurate accounting is the premise
During the interview, a number of experts told reporters that the construction of the carbon accounting standard system is a key link for the petrochemical industry to be included in the national carbon market.
"The construction of a scientific and accurate carbon accounting system is an important cornerstone of all carbon emission reduction work, including the construction of the carbon market. One of the main reasons why the national carbon market started from the power sector is that the quality of its basic data is good. Li Yongliang told reporters, "For the petrochemical industry, the construction of carbon accounting system should focus on solving the problem of data quality." ”
In November this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Product Carbon Footprint Management System" with multiple departments, proposing to formulate product carbon footprint accounting rules and standards, strengthen the construction of carbon footprint background database, establish a product carbon label certification system, enrich product carbon footprint application scenarios, and promote international convergence and mutual recognition of carbon footprint. This provides a starting point for the construction of China's carbon market.
The reporter learned that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is working with various industries to formulate group standards for carbon footprints of key products. "The industry is very enthusiastic about this, but the results are often not of a good standard." Li Yongliang said that another difficulty in the construction of the carbon accounting standard system is the lack of talent.
"Carbon accounting is similar to accounting, carbon verification and auditing – both need to process data and issue reports under certain standards (standards)." Li Yongliang said, "There are currently about 17,000 enterprises in China that meet the threshold for inclusion in the national carbon market, and at this scale, there is still a large gap in the need for thousands of carbon emission managers with full knowledge and skills." ”
It is reported that the "National Vocational Skills Standards for Carbon Emission Managers" compiled by the Petrochemical Federation has been issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in October this year, which has become the main basis for the training and evaluation of carbon emission managers.
Each has its own plan – be prepared for the future
In the eyes of many petrochemical companies, the inclusion of the national carbon market is not yet fixed, but it is already a "tangible future".
In fact, some companies have already participated in the national carbon market because of their own power plants. For example, Sinopec has 17 of its subsidiaries and their own power plants included in the national carbon market. Lv Lianggong, deputy general manager of Sinopec, revealed that in 2023, the company's affiliated enterprises will fully complete the implementation tasks of the two carbon markets, with a total carbon transaction volume of 4.78 million tons and a turnover of 330 million yuan.
Some enterprises have already participated in the implementation of local pilot carbon markets. Yu Feng, director of the Office of the Leading Group for Carbon Emission Work of Hubei Xingfa Chemical Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview with reporters that the company has accumulated 37.1576 million yuan in performance expenditure since it was included in the Hubei pilot carbon market in 2013. "Hubei has already started the verification of carbon emissions in the chemical industry, and we actively cooperate, strive to find out the bottom of the family as soon as possible, and compare the industry benchmark level, calculate their own emission reduction potential, study economic and technical feasible emission reduction projects, and carry out personnel training." Yu Feng said.
Some companies that have no experience in carbon trading choose to work diligently or plan ahead according to their own circumstances to wait for the future.
Li Shijiang, chairman of Polyfluorine New Materials Co., Ltd., told reporters that in the past three years, the energy consumption of polyfluorine and multi-unit has been declining. In the future, after the petrochemical industry is included in the national carbon market, the company will make specific plans for this aspect of business, with a view to creating more value and achieving high-quality development.
Tan Xuan, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Huachang (Group) Co., Ltd., also said that they are paying close attention to relevant trends and actively promoting the research and development of green and low-carbon technologies.
According to Yao Xun, deputy director of the energy management office of Yangzi Petrochemical Company, the company has laid out the construction of a carbon management system several years ago in preparation for joining the national carbon market. "The company continues to improve the existing energy management, promote the construction of the carbon asset system, and strengthen multi-dimensional personnel training to ensure the smooth operation of the carbon management system after the construction of the system is completed." "We also hope that through these efforts, we can provide a template that can be used as a reference to promote the construction of the industry's carbon management system." ”
