183 yuan/ton! The country's first mangrove protection carbon sink will be auctioned publicly, how to set the starting price? Who are the interested auction groups?
The starting price is 183 yuan / ton! Recently, a "national first mangrove protection carbon sink auction announcement" has attracted the attention of the industry.
As a local exploration to realize the value of ecological products, what is the pricing basis for this single mangrove protection carbon sink project? Who are the interested auction groups? The Securities Times reporter continued to track the above topics.
How is the starting price of 183 yuan / ton determined?
On the morning of September 8, the Shenzhen Mangrove Protection Carbon Sink Trading Promotion Conference was held in Shenzhen Exchange Group. Despite the heavy rain in Shenzhen that day, the promotion meeting still attracted more than 50 enterprises such as China Resources Land, China Merchants Shekou, BYD, Sunwoda, Dash Intelligence, and Maxwell.
According to the auction announcement a few days ago, entrusted by the Guangdong Neilingding Futian National Nature Reserve Management Bureau, Shenzhen Exchange Group Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen Public Resources Trading Center) publicly traded the carbon sink of mangrove protection in Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve by auction.
According to the auction announcement, at 3 p.m. on September 26, 3,875 tons of mangrove protected carbon sinks will be publicly auctioned, with a starting unit price of 183 yuan / ton and a bidding deposit of 360,000 yuan.
The starting price is 183 yuan / ton, which has attracted attention in the industry. "Although the price is not low, if it is a compliant mangrove carbon sink, the price is acceptable." An industry insider who has been involved in CCER transactions for a long time said in an interview with reporters.
Although the price of carbon emission allowances (CEAs) in the national carbon market has recently increased as the second compliance period approaches, it was only 71.28 yuan / ton as of September 8. From this point of view, the starting price of carbon sink for mangrove protection in Shenzhen is 2.57 times the CEA price of the national carbon market.
In terms of the pilot carbon market, taking the higher-priced Beijing carbon market as an example, on September 8, the average transaction price of BEA in the Beijing carbon market was 123.77 yuan/tonne, and the average transaction price of CCER (China Certified Voluntary Emission Reduction) was 70.5 yuan/tonne. It can be seen that the starting price of Shenzhen mangrove protection carbon sink is also 1.48 times and 2.60 times the average transaction price of BEA and CCER in the Beijing carbon market, respectively.
An industry analyst in the carbon market told reporters, "Mangrove carbon sinks are indeed high-quality scarce emission reductions, and this auction volume is not large, and may focus more on publicity and demonstration effects." ”
According to the certification of a third-party organization, the carbon sink generated by about 126 hectares of mangrove land conservation activities in Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve during the first monitoring period (January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2020) was 38,745.44 tons. The subject matter of this transaction is about one-tenth of the total amount, and the value is estimated at the starting price of about 700,000 yuan.
Regarding the pricing mechanism of mangrove conservation carbon sink, Dr. Li Peng of Shenzhen Natural Resources and Real Estate Assessment Center said in an interview with the Securities Times reporter after the promotion meeting that mangrove protection carbon sink is a voluntary carbon market, and the price formation is mainly determined by the market mechanism, "At present, there is no mature carbon sink price assessment mechanism at home and abroad, and the starting price of this transaction auction is to entrust Shenzhen non-profit assessment institutions to comprehensively consider the significance of the pilot, resource scarcity and other factors, and use the market comparison method to evaluate the value of mangrove protected carbon sinks." ”
"This public auction of carbon sinks for mangrove protection is a primary market transaction led by the government and participated by enterprises and all sectors of society." Li Peng said.
Market-oriented exploration of ecological product value realization
The Shenzhen Mangrove Conservation Carbon Sink is not the first blue carbon project to be traded. In February this year, Zhejiang Xiangshan County held a blue carbon auction, the starting price was 30 yuan / ton, after more than 70 rounds of bidding, finally Zhejiang Easy Forge Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. auctioned the carbon sink of Xiangshan Xiangxi Shanghai and Hong Kong at a price of 106 yuan / ton, which is also considered to be the first blue carbon project auction in China.
In April this year, the Xiaohai Mangrove Ecological Restoration Project in Wanning, Hainan Province completed the first carbon sink transaction, and PetroChina Southern Petroleum Exploration and Development Co., Ltd. subscribed for 220 tons of Xiaohai mangrove ecological carbon restoration sink at a price of 110 yuan per ton.
"Blue carbon" is the ocean carbon sink, which is considered to be a master of capturing carbon dioxide and a treasure trove of carbon dioxide storage. It is reported that the ocean stores 93% of the world's carbon dioxide, about 40 trillion tons, is the largest carbon sink on the earth, and the carbon sequestration per unit of marine organisms is 10 times that of forests, 20 times that of land, and 290 times that of grasslands.
"Mangroves have multiple ecological values such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection, and environmental improvement, and realizing the carbon sequestration value of mangroves is an important practice to explore the transformation of the value of the 'two mountains', and an important path to realize the value of ecological products." Lu Xuedu, former deputy director of the National Climate Center and chief climate change expert of the Asian Development Bank, said at the promotion meeting.
Shenzhen's pilot of carbon sink trading for mangrove protection is considered to be a new path for market-oriented and diversified ecological products led by the government and participated by enterprises and all sectors of society.
In May this year, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources released the country's first "Carbon Sequestration Methodology for Mangrove Conservation Projects" aimed at protecting biodiversity and coping with the climate, filling the gap in the methodology of domestic natural ecosystem protection carbon sequestration projects.
Li Peng said that the accounting of the single mangrove conservation carbon sink project, relying on the survey data of mangrove biodiversity conservation in the reserve in the past ten years, based on the conservation behavior of mangroves, comprehensively considering "climate change", "biodiversity conservation" and community contributions, innovated carbon sink accounting methods, increased the accounting of vines, and explored local carbon storage carbon sink accounting guidelines.
"The first carbon sink transaction of a mangrove protection project in China is a market-oriented carbon sink transaction based on the realization of the value of ecological products and the 'increase of sinks' of natural resources, and it is also an important practice from natural resource management to natural resource asset management." Li Peng told reporters.
At the promotion meeting, Li Yuanyuan, president of Shenzhen Green and Low-carbon Technology Promotion Association, said that as the first and only green and low-carbon industry association in China, the association has the obligation and ability to actively participate in and cooperate with the construction of Shenzhen's "International Mangrove Center" and mangrove protection carbon sink trading, and also advocates more enterprises to participate in the project to help the transformation of marine blue carbon value and promote the realization of ecological product value.
"In-depth market research was conducted during the development of this project, and we believe that the bidding group is mainly enterprises headquartered in Shenzhen, with good profit conditions and strong social responsibility." Li Peng told reporters.
The reporter learned that the mangrove protection carbon sink auction will issue the first carbon sink certificate in the field of natural resources in Shenzhen for the bidder, and will also handle the registration of natural resource carbon sink for the bidder, and the mangrove wetland museum under construction will also reserve a booth for the bidder. The proceeds from the carbon auction of mangrove protection will be handed over to the municipal treasury to feed back the protection and restoration of mangroves.
Wang Dong, second-level inspector of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, said that Shenzhen will accelerate the establishment of an ecological protection compensation mechanism that reflects the value of carbon sinks, and build a sound blue carbon trading application scenario and full-cycle management model.
The carbon sink development and pricing trading mechanism still needs to be improved
In the eyes of industry insiders, although Shenzhen and other places have explored first, there is still much room for improvement in the development of China's carbon sink and pricing and trading mechanism.
Taking blue carbon as an example, at present, China's carbon sink development lacks methodologies suitable for China, especially marine carbon sink methodologies and fishery carbon sink methodologies.
"Compared with previous development projects and transactions, ocean blue carbon sink trading is not open and transparent enough, which is not conducive to the development of carbon sink trading in China." Zhang Bo, an engineer of marine carbon sinks at Guangdong Dream Double Carbon Research Institute, said to reporters, "As far as the trading market is concerned, there is a mature trading market for marine carbon sinks in the world, but China is still in the exploration and development stage. ”
Fortunately, the national CCER market is about to be launched, when China's carbon sink trading will usher in a unified national market, and it is expected to improve the pricing and trading mechanism.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment previously stated that it will strive to launch the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market (national CCER market) as soon as possible this year, and effectively play the important role of market mechanisms in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and promoting green and low-carbon technological innovation.
On July 7, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly solicited opinions from the whole society on the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial). The management measures are clear, and a unified national trading institution is established to carry out centralized and unified trading of CCER.
The National Greenhouse Gas Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading Agency has been identified as the Beijing Green Exchange. On August 17, the Beijing Green Exchange issued the "Announcement on Service Arrangements Related to the Trading of the National Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading System", announcing that the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading system will open the account opening function from now on, clarifying important information such as the account opening entity and trading venue of the national voluntary emission reduction trading.
In Zhang Bo's view, with the deepening of the "dual carbon" strategy, carbon sink trading will become an important supplementary part of the carbon quota market, especially with the consumption of stock resources and the tightening of the quota market, the price of carbon sinks will gradually increase.
