China bides its time on ETS extension

Government may not broaden scope of world’s largest cap-and-trade scheme until 2024 or later

China may not expand its cap-and-trade scheme to cover more emissions-intensive sectors beyond power generation until next year at the earliest, as carbon policymaking has been overshadowed by energy security and macroeconomic concerns, according to speakers at the Carbon Forward Asia conference in Singapore. China’s emissions trading system (ETS)—the world’s largest by emissions volume—has covered only domestic thermal power generators since it launched nearly two years ago in July 2021. So far, prices and trading activity have languished at low levels, limiting the system’s effectiveness as a tool for reining in emissions. There has been considerable speculation since the national carbon m