China keeps a tight rein on voluntary credits

Government keen to avoid oversupply issues that dogged previous iteration of voluntary carbon market

Supply of credits under China’s relaunched carbon offset programme is likely to be limited in the near term as the government tries to avoid the project quality and oversupply issues that plagued the scheme previously, according to market participants. Trading of the offsets, known as China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) credits, officially resumed on 22 January after almost seven years in limbo. The voluntary scheme was launched in June 2012 but was suspended in March 2017 due to low trading volumes and a perceived lack of standardisation in carbon project methodologies and verification. China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has selected just four methodologies for projects