China to set-up carbon-credit trading exchange

07 February 2007 10:22  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China’s government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will establish a carbon-credit trading system with the aim of alleviating poverty and developing China’s renewable energy sector, the UNDP said on Tuesday.

 

The project, will receive $1.7m (€1.3m) of funding from global steel giant Arcelor Mittal.

 

It will see a carbon-credit exchange created in Beijing and brokerages set-up in 12 provinces in China, including Xinjiang, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia, the country’s UN resident coordinator Khalid Malik said in a speech in the Chinese capital.

 

The buying of carbon-credits from developing countries under terms of the Kyoto Protocol is one way developed countries can meet their obligations of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Currently, China supplies over a third of carbon credits established under this scheme.

 

However, efforts to ensure that the sale of carbon credits leads to benefits for the poor are limited, Malik said, adding that most do not lead to technology transfer or the fostering of clean energy development in China.

 

With the trading network set up, international investors and local partners would have a platform to discuss “green” projects to be located in China’s less developed regions, Malik said.

 

Recent findings by the UN Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted that rising temperatures and water shortages in China may significantly worsen in coming decades.

 

The study cited that the annual average temperature in China could rise by as much as 3.3 degrees Celsius by 2050 and even six degrees by the end of the century.

 

The project is a joint effort by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the China International Centre of Economic and Technical Exchange under the Ministry of Commerce, and UNDP.

 

($1=€0.77)

By: Keith Tan Liming
+65 6780 4359

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