Carbon Trading Explained: Are You Paying for Your Carbon Emissions?

By: DaDa

Carbon dioxide emissions from flying (kg):

Short-haul trip: within 200 km = kilometers x 0.275;

Medium-haul trip: 200 to 1000 km = 55 + 0.105 x (kilometers - 200);

Long-haul trip: over 1000 km = kilometers x 0.139.

Carbon dioxide emissions from train travel = kilometers x 0.04

Carbon dioxide emissions from household natural gas (kg) = natural gas usage in cubic meters x 0.19

Carbon dioxide emissions from household tap water (kg) = tap water usage in cubic meters x 0.91

If you multiply an individual's carbon emissions by 7 billion, the result is an astronomical figure. From individuals to the whole world, everyone should strive to achieve carbon reduction to save our Earth, our home.

In order to address global warming and promote global carbon dioxide reduction, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, through difficult negotiations, adopted on May 9, 1992 the "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change", and in December 1997 adopted the first additional agreement, the "Kyoto Protocol", takingmarket mechanismsas a new path to solving the problem of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, represented by carbon dioxide, that is, treatingcarbon dioxide emission rightsas a commodity, thus forming trading in carbon dioxide emission rights, abbreviated ascarbon trading.。

Carbon emission rights, also known ascarbon credits(carbon credit), refer to the carbon emission measurement units that a country or enterprise obtains and can enter the carbon trading market by increasing energy efficiency, reducing pollution, or reducing development, and thereby emitting less carbon, under conditions certified by the United Nations or a emission reduction organization recognized by the United Nations.

Carbon tradingis just like a seller selling goods and a buyer purchasing goods: when a country, enterprise, or individual emits less greenhouse gas through environmental protection projects, after certification by a United Nations organization, they can own theownershipof these reduced emissions, thus becoming aseller, buyerin the carbon market, while buyers increase the amount of carbon dioxide they are able to emit by purchasing carbon emission rights.

There is a plain explanation of carbon trading:others pay, you reduce emissions. For example, for developed countries, the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is more than 100 USD/ton, while in China and most other developing countries the reduction cost can fall to 20 USD/ton. This huge difference in emission reduction costs prompts developed countries to actively enter developing countries to look for cooperative projects, opening a green channel for carbon trading. The reason this trading market is called the "carbon market" is mainly that other greenhouse gases are ultimately also calculated in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Someone once predicted that in the future the carbon market will replace the oil market and become the world's largest trading market.

One of China's commitments: "strive to achieve the goal of reducing carbon intensity by 40%-45% by 2020, and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60%-65% compared with 2005 by 2030"

As the largest developing country in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, China actively shoulders its responsibility as a major country. According to the "Construction Plan for the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market (Power Generation Industry)", the national carbon market construction is divided into "three steps", and this year the nationwide unified data reporting system, registration system, and trading system must be completed.

On May 9, the National Center for Climate Change Strategy announced that the national voluntary emission reduction trading registration system had resumed operation and would handle CCER trading registration business.

Although some people in the international community still hold a negative attitude toward carbon trading, believing that carbon trading is just a "lie" and cannot truly achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions. But in the short term, to save the Earth, carbon trading is not the only way, but it is one of the important solutions.