The Development of China’s Carbon Emissions Regulation System

Abstract

In the face of climate and environmental problems caused by carbon emissions, China is taking positive actions, such aspromoting the achievement of the emission peak of traditional energy sources, accelerating the optimization of industrial andenergy structures, promoting and improving the construction of the national carbon trading market, increasing investmentand scientific research work to develop new energy sources, and several other actions. The administrative approach plays animportant role in the development of Chinaʼs low-carbon economy. The carbon trading system also greatly promotes energyconservation and emission reduction, contributes to attracting investment in low-carbon technology and transforming theenergy structure and is becoming an important policy guarantee for Chinaʼs carbon emission reduction. However, at thesame time, Chinaʼs carbon trading market faces many practical challenges. For China, the task of reducing carbon emissionsthrough carbon trading alone is unrealistic. Chinaʼs current actions on carbon taxation are not broad enough to regulateemission reductions. With the implementation of carbon trading, there is a need to establish a carbon tax as a policy optionto further strengthen the regulation of emission reduction. The introduction of a carbon tax should consider the relationshipbetween economic and social development and carbon reduction and coordinate the relationship between the carbon tax andcarbon trading system on various aspects, including the field and object of taxation, tax rates, use of tax revenue and therelationship between the authorities regulating the two policies, to leverage their complementary roles.