Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Interim Regulations on the Administration of Carbon Emission Trading "Coming Out"

On November 30, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference for November. At the press conference, Zhao Ke, director of the Department of Regulations and Standards, answered questions from reporters from the Daily Economic News on issues related to the interim regulations on the management of carbon emission trading.

Zhao Ke said that carbon emission trading is a new thing, and we are also very cautious when the relevant system is introduced. This system is an institutional innovation that uses market mechanisms to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the construction of the carbon market, and the regulations have been included in the legislative plan of the State Council many times, and the legislature is also stepping up its efforts, and the ecological environment department has also done a lot of work in cooperation with the legislature. It is mainly based on the construction of the carbon market, summarizing local experience, and learning from foreign legislation, and putting forward a draft of the regulations. This regulation is to build a scientific, standardized and orderly carbon emission trading management system.

Zhao Ke said that this year, important meetings, important documents, and some important situations will be taken into account, such as the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the spirit of the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection. The carbon market has been running for another year, and we have some successes and failures in this year, and what are the shortcomings of these operations, and what are the good ones, should also be reflected in the regulations. This year, we will focus on the new requirements of the meeting and the new situations and new problems found in the operation of the carbon market, and make further optimizations and make new changes to the original draft provisions, mainly in three aspects:

First, strengthen the party's leadership. It is clearly stipulated that the management of carbon emission trading and related activities should adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The "dual carbon" goal itself is also a declaration by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly and a decision of the central government.

Second, improve the management of data quality. We have added some new provisions that require key emitters to develop and strictly implement quality control plans for greenhouse gas emissions data. From a practical point of view, there are indeed some objective situations of carbon emission data fraud. In view of these situations, it is necessary to reflect the corresponding institutional measures in the regulations and respond to the situations that arise in practice.

Third, strengthen legal liability. Strict legal liability should be stipulated for key pollutant discharging units, as well as technical service organizations for tampering with data quality and other fraudulent behaviors.

At present, the introduction of this regulation is in the final stage, so let's wait and see.

In addition, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has also carried out other institutional construction related to climate change. For example, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial), which regulates voluntary emission reduction trading and related activities to help achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In cooperation with the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate revised and issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution, which clarifies that the crime of providing false supporting documents as stipulated in Article 229 of the Criminal Law also applies to intermediary organizations responsible for the preparation and verification of greenhouse gas emission inspection and testing reports, and stipulates specific standards for criminalization. Through the criminalization of carbon emission data fraud, the criminal responsibility of relevant personnel is investigated, so as to ensure the quality of carbon market data.