China proposes a comprehensive economic emission reduction target, with the national carbon market covering major high emission industries

According to Xinhua News Agency, at the United Nations Climate Change Summit on September 24th, China announced a new round of nationally determined contributions: by 2035, China's net greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy will decrease by 7% -10% from their peak, striving to do better. The proportion of non fossil energy consumption in total energy consumption has exceeded 30%. The total installed capacity of wind and solar power (4.670, 0.13, 2.86%) has reached more than 6 times that of 2020, striving to reach 3.6 billion kilowatts. The forest storage volume has reached more than 24 billion cubic meters. New energy vehicles have become the mainstream of new sales vehicles. The national carbon emission trading market covers major high emission industries, and a climate adaptive society has been basically built.

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) target is a set of action goals set by countries based on their respective national conditions and development stages to address climate change. Multiple interviewees told 21st Century Business Herald that the new round of NDC targets elaborates on China's independent commitments in addressing climate change and will provide strong support for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the carbon market is an important means of controlling industry carbon emissions. With a total target, the national carbon market will achieve price discovery more efficiently.

The national carbon emissions trading market has been operating for over four years. Since its launch on July 16, 2021, the national carbon market has covered more than 2200 key emission units in the power industry, becoming the world's largest carbon market in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. After three performance cycles, the institutional system of the carbon market has been continuously improved, and the market mechanism has become more mature. In 2025, the national carbon market will make new breakthroughs, and the three major industries of steel, cement, and aluminum smelting will expand their coverage. The first batch of Certified Voluntary Emission Reductions (CCERs) will be officially issued.

Recently, the "2025 China Carbon Market Conference" was held in Shanghai. The "National Carbon Market Development Report (2025)" released during the conference showed that as of the end of August, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emission trading market was nearly 700 million tons, with a turnover of about 48 billion yuan. Among them, the annual transaction volume in 2024 reached a new high since the market launched online trading in 2021.

After more than four years of development, China's carbon market has achieved a stable start and operation, with further improvement in top-level design and the initial formation of a multi-level policy and institutional system. Sun Jinlong, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, stating that the coverage of China's carbon market has further expanded, and the total amount of effectively controlled carbon dioxide emissions accounts for over 60%; The market vitality is further stimulated, and the willingness of trading entities to participate continues to increase; The role of incentives and constraints has further emerged, and the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products has been enriched and improved. The carbon market has become a powerful measure to promote the industry's green and low-carbon transformation and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.