Xi Jinping Is Set for a Big Gamble With China’s Carbon Trading Market<br />“Carbon trading on a national scale will send a signal to the world<br />that China is serious about this,” said Wang Yi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing who also belongs to the national legislature and advises the government on climate policy.<br />The start of a national carbon trading market in China by late this year has been years in the making,<br />but is now shaping up as Mr. Xi’s big policy retort to Mr. Trump’s decision to quit the Paris accord.<br />“To move to emissions trading, you need to have realistic numbers on how to start to price these emissions.”<br />If China gets past these problems, it will create the world’s biggest emissions market, overshadowing the European Union’s, and<br />that could deepen China’s influence over developing new energy technology, Chinese policy advisers said.<br />“It’s a good idea to start with a narrow range of sectors, even if<br />that wasn’t the original plan,” said Stian Reklev, a Beijing-based co-founder of Carbon Pulse, which provides information on greenhouse gas markets and climate change policy.
