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Climate Action
News article20 October 2016Directorate-General for Climate Action

EU and China: strengthening ties between the world's largest emission trading systems in 2017

As the EU prepares to start a new project to support China's 2017 launch of a national carbon market, a high-level conference in Beijing, today celebrated the successful collaboration between the two sides to date.

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As the EU prepares to start a new project to support China's 2017 launch of a national carbon market, a high-level conference in Beijing, today celebrated the successful collaboration between the two sides to date.

More than 1500 Chinese carbon market experts have received training on emissions trading under an EU funded project, which started in 2014. The project supported the roll-out of seven pilot emissions trading schemes across the country and has played an important role in the development of the national carbon market.

Building on this positive experience, China and the EU agreed to strengthen their cooperation at the EU-China Summit in Brussels in June 2015. The Commission has doubled its funding for cooperation on carbon markets and is making 10 Million Euros - more than 70 Million Yuan - available under the EU's Foreign Partnership Instrument for a new three year co-operation project. The project will start in 2017.

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said: "This is an exciting time as China prepares to launch the biggest emissions trading system in the world. The Chinese ETS will play an important role in China's development towards a low-carbon economy. I look forward to continuing our excellent cooperation and to supporting China as it takes this ambitious step. Cooperation between the world's two largest emission trading systems represents a strong and promising signal for the development of future carbon markets worldwide."

The EU established the world's first carbon market in 2005. The EU emissions trading system is a cornerstone of the EU's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. It covers more than 11,000 power stations and manufacturing plants in the 28 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

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Publication date
20 October 2016
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action