The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly issued the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (for Trial Implementation)

　　The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly issued the Administrative Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") on October 19 to regulate the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading and related activities.

　　Voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading is an important institutional innovation to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market mechanisms and promote the realization of the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The National Greenhouse Gas Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading Market and the National Carbon Emission Trading Market together form China's carbon trading system. After the launch of the voluntary emission reduction trading market, all kinds of social entities can independently and voluntarily develop greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in accordance with relevant regulations, and the emission reduction effects of the projects can be sold in the market after being quantitatively verified by scientific methods and applied for registration, so as to obtain the corresponding emission reduction contribution benefits. The launch of the voluntary emission reduction trading market is conducive to supporting the development of forestry carbon sinks, renewable energy, methane emission reduction, energy conservation and efficiency enhancement projects, and is conducive to encouraging a wider range of industries, enterprises and all sectors of society to participate in greenhouse gas emission reduction actions, which is of positive significance for promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society and achieving high-quality development.

　　The Measures are the basic system to ensure the orderly operation of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market. The Measures contain 8 chapters and 51 articles, which stipulate all aspects of voluntary emission reduction trading and related activities, and clarify the rights, obligations and legal responsibilities of project owners, verification and verification agencies, registration agencies, trading institutions and other parties, as well as the management responsibilities of the competent departments of ecology and environment and market supervision and management at all levels.

　　The "Measures" take serving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality as the fundamental purpose, highlight the "voluntary" attribute, strengthen the role of market players, and adhere to the following basic principles. The first is information disclosure and strengthened supervision. Take social supervision as an important means of supervision of voluntary emission reduction trading and related activities, in accordance with the principle of "being open and as open as possible", timely and accurately disclose project and emission reduction information, fully accept social supervision, consolidate the main responsibilities of project owners and third-party verification and verification institutions, and require them to make "double commitments" on the authenticity and compliance of projects and emission reductions, strengthen market integrity management, and the government conducts supervision during and after the event, so as to maintain market integrity, fairness and transparency. The second is overall coordination and unified management. Establish a new model for the competent departments of ecology and environment and the market supervision departments to give full play to their respective advantages and jointly carry out joint supervision before, during, and after the event. In accordance with the spirit of building a unified national market, a unified national registration and trading institution shall be established to provide registration, trading and other services for relevant market entities, and the third-party verification and verification institutions shall be included in the management of certification bodies. The third is to lay a solid foundation and make gradual progress. Adhere to the steady progress, in the early stage of the market start-up, improve the institutional system, improve the management model as the primary task, focus on improving the policy system standardization, rationality and operability. After the market has achieved a steady start and stable operation, in accordance with the basic principle of "mature one, release one", gradually expand the field of voluntary emission reduction market support, and strengthen market functions. Fourth, based on the domestic and international. Fully consider the domestic reality, learn from international experience, and on the basis of effectively safeguarding China's national interests, relevant management requirements and technical specifications are in line with international practices, so as to provide high-quality, tradable and widely recognized emission reductions to the whole society, and better promote the realization of the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

　　The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) will continue to promote the construction of a voluntary emission reduction trading market based on the Measures. The first is to build a basic institutional framework. On the basis of the issuance of the "Measures", we have successively organized the release of supporting management systems such as project design and implementation guidelines, validation and verification implementation rules, and clarified various implementation rules and technical specifications. The second is to clarify the specific areas of market support. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) plans to release the first batch of project methodologies to support the development of projects in areas such as forestry carbon sequestration and renewable energy. At the same time, we will continue to promote the release of the methodology of voluntary emission reduction projects. The third is to approve a number of verification and verification institutions. According to the Measures, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, will approve a number of verification and verification agencies as soon as possible to provide verification and verification services for project owners applying for project and emission reduction registration. Fourth, the national unified registration system and trading system will be put into operation to prepare for the launch of the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market.