Time to make the best of carbon trading

Since the Kyoto Protocol, the idea of trading carbon emission quotas has been generating high hopes for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. During the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, last month, China's special representative on climate change Xie Zhenhua said the country's carbon market is near completion and will be probably the world's largest.

As the world's largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, China has launched pilot trading systems for carbon emission quotas in seven provinces and cities since 2013, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. China is now about to launch a nationwide carbon trading market equivalent to the United States' Environmental Protection Agency, which will expand to a variety of manufacturing and industrial fields, even as the Donald Trump-led US administration prepares to discard its electricity rule for the carbon sector. China's move could add a new dynamism to the global fight against climate change, especially after the withdrawal of the US from the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The capitalization of China's carbon market is estimated to reach 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) and its trading volume could be more than 600 billion yuan if "derivatives" such as futures are taken into account.