Carbon market update (October 2022)
Trading in China’s national carbon emissions allowance (CEA) market rebounded somewhat from September’s record monthly low, totaling 969,746 for the month, but still ranking in the bottom 25% of the historic monthly volumes. Block trades took place on four of the holiday-shortened sixteen trading days of the month, accounting for 68% of the monthly total volume.
In a monthly press conference on October 27th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) restated its commitment to further develop the national CEA market and restart the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) trading scheme, in light of the policy directives on greenhouse gas emissions announced during the recently closed 20th CCP Party Congress. However, there were neither new scope updates for the program’s development nor specific timelines given regarding the implementation of these commitments. The market responded to this statement with a few days of increased block trades but overall did not show much increased interest in trading.
Prices for open market trades remained elevated, closing October at 58.00 yuan ($8.08 [1[) per ton and up slightly from September. The October volume-weighted average price for all trades decreased by 7.2% from September to 54.50 ($7.59) yuan per ton, pulled down by a much lower average price for block trades.
[1] 1 US$ = 7.1768 RMB, middle price, October 31, 2022, China State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Same for all other values quoted in US dollars ($) in the newsletter.