China’s nationwide cap-and-trade program isn’t scheduled to take effect until mid-2016, but the nation has already rolled out out a mandatory reporting system for greenhouse gas emissions.
On Monday, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the technical guidelines as a way to standardize the reporting of fossil fuel producers. According to Reuters, instructions have been published for 14 industrial sectors, including glass, cement, aviation petrochemicals, electricity and iron and steel. The NDRC requires emission data from any company that emits over 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent or consumed the energy equivalent of over 5,000 tonnes of standard coal in 2010.
China is currently the largest CO2 emitter in the world (having surpassed the U.S. in 2007). Its pollution has impacted the health, soil and climate of its country, and recent satellite data from NASA reveals that its potent aerosols are traveling through the atmosphere and affecting weather in the United States.
However, the public outcry of Chinese citizens and the undeniable damage of its industrialization has lead the government to declare a “war against pollution.” Late last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama finalized a deal several months in the making to jointly pledge to cap and reduce their emissions respectively. Together, the two countries emit nearly half of the world’s carbon dioxide (about 45 percent), and the move was seen by the planet’s conservationists as ripe with promise heading into the Paris Climate Change Conference in December 2015.
Carbon Brief reports that China is planning to target energy and aviation emissions with the launch of its carbon trading market next year.