June 13, 2012
Authors
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Fengyuan Wang
Former Manager, BSR
In China’s latest Five-Year Plan, the national government set a target to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16 percent and to reduce carbon intensity by 17 percent from 2010 levels. One part of the wider plan to tackle climate change is to have a pilot carbon emissions trading system in place in seven regions by the end of 2012. Although the detailed timeline is not fixed, the whole country should be included in the new trading scheme by 2015, and integration with the international carbon trading market is set to take place in 2020.
Initially, the trading system will target the top energy-consuming companies in the pilot regions, defined by total annual carbon emissions of approximately 10,000 tons or more. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unlikely to be included very early in the pilot cap-and-trade. However, according to the requirements for total emissions control and energy efficiency improvements, emissions reduction for SMEs will be key if China is to achieve its national emissions reduction targets.
Guangdong, one of the regions selected for the pilot carbon emissions trading system, is also exploring a direct trading system for energy savings as a resource for large enterprises in the provinces that have mandatory energy efficiency targets.
Real and reliable data is the basis of carbon emissions trading. However, establishing systems for collecting data and sorting, maintaining, and reporting is not accomplished overnight, especially when local SMEs lack basic energy management systems. BSR's Energy Efficiency Partnership helps this type of SME establish energy management systems, which can then provide data on carbon emissions reductions and prepare suppliers for future participation in carbon emissions trading.
Our new Energy Management in China website supports supplier energy management programs by providing information (in both English and Chinese) about policies and resources related to energy efficiency in the Chinese context, along with case studies from our work in factories in China. The website pulls together a wide-ranging set of information and serves as a resource for Chinese technical personnel and managers, as well as companies with supply chains in China.
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