Largest market will be accessible to 1,700 companies, 3.3b metric tonsChina started the world's largest carbon trading system on Tuesday, sending strong signals that it plans to use the market as a key policy tool to curb emissions and also is keeping its Paris Agreement commitments.The nationwide carbon market, which is built upon seven pilot programs implemented since 2013, will be open only to the power generation sector during its early phase, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.Still, it is expected to exceed the European Union's market, with more than 1,700 power generation enterprises producing 3.3 billion metric tons of carbon expected to be involved, according to the commission.The power sector accounts for about one-third of China's carbon dioxide emissions.Zhang Yong, vice-minister of the commission, said the introduction of the nationwide market shows China is delivering on its Paris Agreement promises.China pledged to peak carbon emissions by the end of 2030 in the Paris pact sealed in 2015.Putting a price on carbon will propel market players to further cut carbon emissions, as they have to consider those costs in making future investment and production decisions, according to Jiang Zhaoli, deputy director of the commission's Department of Climate Change.China will not introduce financial products such as carbon futures in the early stage as some other countries did because speculative behavior will do more harm than good in encouraging actual carbon reduction, according to Jiang.The initial benchmark for market inclusion is set at 26,000 metric tons of carbon or above a year.Firms involved that plan to emit more carbon should reduce emissions or buy spare credits from other companies, and those with extra allowances can sell or keep them for future use.While creating the market is a milestone, much needs to be done to make it a success in coming years, experts said.Transparency and public participation will be crucial for it to be an important incentive for carbon reduction, according to Femke de Jong, policy director of Carbon Market Watch.Liu Shuang, director of the Low Carbon Economic Growth Program with the Energy Foundation China, said improvements will be needed for a stronger legal basis, a more stringent cap and better allocation."For immediate next steps, it is essential for regulators to set up a reviewing mechanism to carefully monitor operational progress and collect data in a timely way to inform the design and decision-making for the next phases," she said.The government has set a three-year road map for gradually improving the framework before allowing real transactions. Real transactions are expected to take place in 2020. black rubber braceletssilicone wristbandscustom silicone bands24 hour wristbands coupon codecustom wrist sweatbandscustom fidget
File photo shows Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan leaves Peking University with his wife Lien Fang-yu during their visit in Beijing in 2014. [Photo/China Daily] The upcoming visit of Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang in Taiwan, to Beijing next week shows a gesture to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits, a scholar said on Friday. Lien will lead a delegation to visit the mainland from July 12 to 14, An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, announced on Friday. Following the stop in Beijing, the delegation will visit Liaoning, Jilin and Zhejiang provinces, he said. Lien is also chairman of a foundation on cross-Straits peaceful development. According to Taiwan media, the delegation has about 50 powerful figures from the island, including Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and major suppler for Apple. Lien's visit comes amid rising tension between the mainland and Taiwan, as Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and her right-hand man, the island's executive head Lai Ching-te, publicly called himself a Taiwan independence worker. Scholars have noted that Tsai's recent behavior, such as calling on the international community to constrain the Chinese mainland, courting foreign support and creating hostility among people from the mainland and Taiwan, will enhance confrontation in cross-Straits relations. Wang Hailiang, a Taiwan studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's coming visit is more likely a symbolic gesture that shows Lien's stance to help ease the tension between the mainland and Taiwan. But Lien is no longer the leader of the KMT and the impact of his visit may be limited, Wang said. Lien, who retired as KMT chairman in August 2005, has been an important figure in the history of the relationship between the Communist Party of China and KMT, and in the history of cross-Straits relations. In April 2005, as then KMT leader, he visited the Chinese mainland and met Hu Jintao, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the ice that had existed for half a century. It was the first meeting for leaders of the two parties since 1949. After that, Lien visited the mainland a dozen times, and met general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
