IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v178y2016icp902-917.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on China’s cap-and-trade carbon emission trading scheme: Overview and outlook

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Jingjing
  • Xie, Dejun
  • Ye, Bin
  • Shen, Bo
  • Chen, Zhanming

Abstract

With important implications for global climate change mitigation, the development of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS) in China is embedded in distinctive political, economic, and institutional contexts and has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. To offer a clear perspective on current research progress, this paper systematically reviews the recent literature on China’s ETS from three main aspects: mechanism design, policy and regional linkages, as well as impact assessment. The current research consensuses are summarized based upon detailed literature analyses and commentaries, and together with observations of international experience and China’s actual condition, the paper provides policy proposals for the development of China’s national ETS during 2016–2020. Finally, several important controversies in the current literature are discussed with regard to the practical demands of China’s ETS development. Five pressing topics that need to be further studied in the coming years are highlighted, including cap setting, allowance allocation among sectors and enterprises, carbon pricing, policy package and unified carbon market construction, as well as ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Jingjing & Xie, Dejun & Ye, Bin & Shen, Bo & Chen, Zhanming, 2016. "Research on China’s cap-and-trade carbon emission trading scheme: Overview and outlook," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 902-917.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:178:y:2016:i:c:p:902-917
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916308753
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.100?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jiang, Jing Jing & Ye, Bin & Ma, Xiao Ming, 2014. "The construction of Shenzhen׳s carbon emission trading scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 17-21.
    2. Weitzel, Matthias & Hübler, Michael & Peterson, Sonja, 2012. "Fair, optimal or detrimental? Environmental vs. strategic use of border carbon adjustment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S2), pages 198-207.
    3. Wei Shen, 2015. "Chinese business at the dawn of its domestic emissions trading scheme: incentives and barriers to participation in carbon trading," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 339-354, May.
    4. Teng, Fei & Wang, Xin & Zhiqiang, LV, 2014. "Introducing the emissions trading system to China’s electricity sector: Challenges and opportunities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 39-45.
    5. Xiting Gong & Sean X. Zhou, 2013. "Optimal Production Planning with Emissions Trading," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 908-924, August.
    6. Yu, Shiwei & Wei, Yi-Ming & Wang, Ke, 2014. "Provincial allocation of carbon emission reduction targets in China: An approach based on improved fuzzy cluster and Shapley value decomposition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 630-644.
    7. He, Gang & Morse, Richard, 2013. "Addressing carbon Offsetters’ Paradox: Lessons from Chinese wind CDM," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1051-1055.
    8. Barry Anderson & Corrado Di Maria, 2011. "Abatement and Allocation in the Pilot Phase of the EU ETS," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 83-103, January.
    9. Perdan, Slobodan & Azapagic, Adisa, 2011. "Carbon trading: Current schemes and future developments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6040-6054, October.
    10. Chen, W.T. & Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H. & Chen, X. & Li, Y.F., 2010. "A two-stage inexact-stochastic programming model for planning carbon dioxide emission trading under uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 1033-1047, March.
    11. Bernard, A. & Haurie, A. & Vielle, M. & Viguier, L., 2008. "A two-level dynamic game of carbon emission trading between Russia, China, and Annex B countries," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1830-1856, June.
    12. Wang, Ke & Zhang, Xian & Wei, Yi-Ming & Yu, Shiwei, 2013. "Regional allocation of CO2 emissions allowance over provinces in China by 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 214-229.
    13. Yan Dong & Kui-Wai Li & Dayong Zhang, 2011. "Determinants of Chinese and American Outward Investment," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 58-77, March.
    14. Raufer, Roger & Li, Shaoyi, 2009. "Emissions trading in China: A conceptual ‘leapfrog’ approach?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 904-912.
    15. Hübler, Michael, 2011. "Technology diffusion under contraction and convergence: A CGE analysis of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 131-142, January.
    16. Richard G. Newell & William A. Pizer & Daniel Raimi, 2013. "Carbon Markets 15 Years after Kyoto: Lessons Learned, New Challenges," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 123-146, Winter.
    17. Zhao, Xiaoli & Yin, Haitao & Zhao, Yue, 2015. "Impact of environmental regulations on the efficiency and CO2 emissions of power plants in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 238-247.
    18. Chang, Yen-Chiang & Wang, Nannan, 2010. "Environmental regulations and emissions trading in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3356-3364, July.
    19. Hintermann, Beat, 2010. "Allowance price drivers in the first phase of the EU ETS," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 43-56, January.
    20. Zhu, Y. & Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H., 2013. "Planning carbon emission trading for Beijing's electric power systems under dual uncertainties," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 113-128.
    21. Peter Heindl & Sebastian Voigt, 2012. "Supply and demand structure for international offset permits under the Copenhagen Pledges," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 343-360, November.
    22. Fan, Jin & Wang, Shanyong & Wu, Yanrui & Li, Jun & Zhao, Dingtao, 2015. "Buffer effect and price effect of a personal carbon trading scheme," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 601-610.
    23. Blyth, William & Bunn, Derek & Kettunen, Janne & Wilson, Tom, 2009. "Policy interactions, risk and price formation in carbon markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5192-5207, December.
    24. Farrahi Moghaddam, Reza & Farrahi Moghaddam, Fereydoun & Cheriet, Mohamed, 2013. "A modified GHG intensity indicator: Toward a sustainable global economy based on a carbon border tax and emissions trading," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 363-380.
    25. Zhu, Y. & Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H. & Fan, Y.R. & Nie, S., 2015. "A dynamic model to optimize municipal electric power systems by considering carbon emission trading under uncertainty," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 636-649.
    26. Cong, Rong-Gang & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2010. "Potential impact of (CET) carbon emissions trading on China’s power sector: A perspective from different allowance allocation options," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 3921-3931.
    27. Li, M.W. & Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H., 2011. "An interval-fuzzy two-stage stochastic programming model for planning carbon dioxide trading under uncertainty," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5677-5689.
    28. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Wang, Ao-Dong & Tan, Weiping, 2015. "The impact of China's carbon allowance allocation rules on the product prices and emission reduction behaviors of ETS-covered enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 176-185.
    29. Du, Shaofu & Zhu, Lili & Liang, Liang & Ma, Fang, 2013. "Emission-dependent supply chain and environment-policy-making in the ‘cap-and-trade’ system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 61-67.
    30. Peter M. Clarkson & Yue Li & Matthew Pinnuck & Gordon D. Richardson, 2015. "The Valuation Relevance of Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the European Union Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 551-580, September.
    31. Graeme Smith, 2011. "Chinese Economic Development – By Chris Bramall," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 208-210, July.
    32. Hübler, Michael & Voigt, Sebastian & Löschel, Andreas, 2014. "Designing an emissions trading scheme for China—An up-to-date climate policy assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 57-72.
    33. Cui, Lian-Biao & Fan, Ying & Zhu, Lei & Bi, Qing-Hua, 2014. "How will the emissions trading scheme save cost for achieving China’s 2020 carbon intensity reduction target?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1043-1052.
    34. Böhringer, Christoph & Dijkstra, Bouwe & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2014. "Sectoral and regional expansion of emissions trading," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 201-225.
    35. Yi, Wen-Jing & Zou, Le-Le & Guo, Jie & Wang, Kai & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2011. "How can China reach its CO2 intensity reduction targets by 2020? A regional allocation based on equity and development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2407-2415, May.
    36. Massetti, Emanuele & Tavoni, Massimo, 2012. "A developing Asia emission trading scheme (Asia ETS)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S3), pages 436-443.
    37. Munnings, Clayton & Morgenstern, Richard & Wang, Zhongmin & Liu, Xu, 2014. "Assessing the Design of Three Pilot Programs for Carbon Trading in China," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-36, Resources for the Future.
    38. Bin Ye & Jingjing Jiang & Lixin Miao & Ji Li & Yang Peng, 2015. "Innovative Carbon Allowance Allocation Policy for the Shenzhen Emission Trading Scheme in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, December.
    39. S. Du & F. Ma & Z. Fu & L. Zhu & J. Zhang, 2015. "Game-theoretic analysis for an emission-dependent supply chain in a ‘cap-and-trade’ system," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 228(1), pages 135-149, May.
    40. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Wang, Ao-Dong & Da, Ya-Bin, 2014. "Regional allocation of carbon emission quotas in China: Evidence from the Shapley value method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 454-464.
    41. Wang, Peng & Dai, Han-cheng & Ren, Song-yan & Zhao, Dai-qing & Masui, Toshihiko, 2015. "Achieving Copenhagen target through carbon emission trading: Economic impacts assessment in Guangdong Province of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 212-227.
    42. Liu, Liwei & Chen, Chuxiang & Zhao, Yufei & Zhao, Erdong, 2015. "China׳s carbon-emissions trading: Overview, challenges and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 254-266.
    43. Tang, Ling & Wu, Jiaqian & Yu, Lean & Bao, Qin, 2015. "Carbon emissions trading scheme exploration in China: A multi-agent-based model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 152-169.
    44. Chen, Yihui & Jiang, Ping & Dong, Wenbo & Huang, Beijia, 2015. "Analysis on the carbon trading approach in promoting sustainable buildings in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 130-137.
    45. Zhang, Da & Karplus, Valerie J. & Cassisa, Cyril & Zhang, Xiliang, 2014. "Emissions trading in China: Progress and prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 9-16.
    46. Li, Ji Feng & Wang, Xin & Zhang, Ya Xiong & Kou, Qin, 2014. "The economic impact of carbon pricing with regulated electricity prices in China—An application of a computable general equilibrium approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 46-56.
    47. Richard Baron & André Aasrud & Jonathan Sinton & Nina Campbell & Kejun Jiang & Xing Zhuang, 2012. "Policy Options for Low‐Carbon Power Generation in China: Designing an Emissions Trading System for China's Electricity Sector," IEA Energy Papers 2012/12, OECD Publishing.
    48. Zhang, Da & Rausch, Sebastian & Karplus, Valerie J. & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Quantifying regional economic impacts of CO2 intensity targets in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 687-701.
    49. Huifang Tian & John Whalley, 2009. "Level versus Equivalent Intensity Carbon Mitigation Commitments," NBER Working Papers 15370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    50. Liang-Xin Li, 2011. "Chinese Economic Outlook after Global Crisis," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 1-5.
    51. Maraseni, Tek Narayan, 2013. "Selecting a CDM investor in China: A critical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 484-489.
    52. Zhang, Bin & Xu, Liang, 2013. "Multi-item production planning with carbon cap and trade mechanism," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 118-127.
    53. Jin Fan & Yao Li & Yanrui Wu & Shanyong Wang & Dingtao Zhao, 2015. "Allowance Trading and Energy Consumption Under a Personal Carbon Trading Scheme: A Dynamic Programming Approach," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 15-19, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    54. Hu, Guangyu & Rong, Ke & Shi, Yongjiang & Yu, Jing, 2014. "Sustaining the emerging carbon trading industry development: A business ecosystem approach of carbon traders," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 587-597.
    55. Zhou, P. & Zhang, L. & Zhou, D.Q. & Xia, W.J., 2013. "Modeling economic performance of interprovincial CO2 emission reduction quota trading in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1518-1528.
    56. Cong, Rong-Gang & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2012. "Experimental comparison of impact of auction format on carbon allowance market," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4148-4156.
    57. Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H. & Li, M.W., 2014. "An integrated optimization modeling approach for planning emission trading and clean-energy development under uncertainty," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 31-46.
    58. Li, Ying & Lukszo, Zofia & Weijnen, Margot, 2015. "The implications of CO2 price for China’s power sector decarbonization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 53-64.
    59. Wei, Chu & Ni, Jinlan & Du, Limin, 2012. "Regional allocation of carbon dioxide abatement in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 552-565.
    60. Xu, Jiuping & Yang, Xin & Tao, Zhimiao, 2015. "A tripartite equilibrium for carbon emission allowance allocation in the power-supply industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 62-80.
    61. Haiqiang Chen & Terence Tai‐Leung Chong & Zimu Li, 2011. "Are Chinese Stock Market Cycles Duration Independent?," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 151-164, February.
    62. Wu, Libo & Qian, Haoqi & Li, Jin, 2014. "Advancing the experiment to reality: Perspectives on Shanghai pilot carbon emissions trading scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 22-30.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiang, Jingjing & Ye, Bin & Xie, Dejun & Li, Ji & Miao, Lixin & Yang, Peng, 2017. "Sector decomposition of China’s national economic carbon emissions and its policy implication for national ETS development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 855-867.
    2. Wang, Ke & Wei, Yi-Ming & Huang, Zhimin, 2016. "Potential gains from carbon emissions trading in China: A DEA based estimation on abatement cost savings," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 48-59.
    3. Wu, Rui & Dai, Hancheng & Geng, Yong & Xie, Yang & Masui, Toshihiko & Tian, Xu, 2016. "Achieving China’s INDC through carbon cap-and-trade: Insights from Shanghai," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1114-1122.
    4. Baochen Yang & Chuanze Liu & Zehao Gou & Jiacheng Man & Yunpeng Su, 2018. "How Will Policies of China’s CO 2 ETS Affect its Carbon Price: Evidence from Chinese Pilot Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-26, February.
    5. Xia, Yan & Tang, Zhipeng, 2017. "The impacts of emissions accounting methods on an imperfect competitive carbon trading market," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 67-76.
    6. Xiong, Ling & Shen, Bo & Qi, Shaozhou & Price, Lynn & Ye, Bin, 2017. "The allowance mechanism of China’s carbon trading pilots: A comparative analysis with schemes in EU and California," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1849-1859.
    7. Tang, Ling & Shi, Jiarui & Bao, Qin, 2016. "Designing an emissions trading scheme for China with a dynamic computable general equilibrium model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 507-520.
    8. Yang, Lin & Li, Fengyu & Zhang, Xian, 2016. "Chinese companies’ awareness and perceptions of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS): Evidence from a national survey in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 254-265.
    9. Baochen Yang & Chuanze Liu & Yunpeng Su & Xin Jing, 2017. "The Allocation of Carbon Intensity Reduction Target by 2020 among Industrial Sectors in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Tang, Ling & Wu, Jiaqian & Yu, Lean & Bao, Qin, 2015. "Carbon emissions trading scheme exploration in China: A multi-agent-based model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 152-169.
    11. Huang, Hai & Roland-Holst, David & Springer, Cecilia & Lin, Jiang & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2019. "Emissions trading systems and social equity: A CGE assessment for China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1254-1265.
    12. Munnings, Clayton & Morgenstern, Richard D. & Wang, Zhongmin & Liu, Xu, 2016. "Assessing the design of three carbon trading pilot programs in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 688-699.
    13. Zhao, Xin-gang & Jiang, Gui-wu & Nie, Dan & Chen, Hao, 2016. "How to improve the market efficiency of carbon trading: A perspective of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1229-1245.
    14. Shaofu Du & Jun Qian & Tianzhuo Liu & Li Hu, 2020. "Emission allowance allocation mechanism design: a low-carbon operations perspective," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 291(1), pages 247-280, August.
    15. Li, Guangyao & Yang, Jin & Chen, Dingjiang & Hu, Shanying, 2017. "Impacts of the coming emission trading scheme on China’s coal-to-materials industry in 2020," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 837-849.
    16. Chang, Kai & Zhang, Chao & Chang, Hao, 2016. "Emissions reduction allocation and economic welfare estimation through interregional emissions trading in China: Evidence from efficiency and equity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1125-1135.
    17. Zhou, X. & Fan, L.W. & Zhou, P., 2015. "Marginal CO2 abatement costs: Findings from alternative shadow price estimates for Shanghai industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 109-117.
    18. Dai, Hancheng & Xie, Yang & Liu, Jingyu & Masui, Toshihiko, 2018. "Aligning renewable energy targets with carbon emissions trading to achieve China's INDCs: A general equilibrium assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 4121-4131.
    19. Gao, Yuning & Li, Meng & Xue, Jinjun & Liu, Yu, 2020. "Evaluation of effectiveness of China's carbon emissions trading scheme in carbon mitigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Mengfei Jiang & Xi Liang & David Reiner & Boqiang Lin & Maosheng Duan, 2018. "Stakeholder Views on Interactions between Low-carbon Policies and Carbon Markets in China: Lessons from the Guangdong ETS," Working Papers EPRG 1805, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:178:y:2016:i:c:p:902-917. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.