Harvard Project Conducts Research Workshop on China’s National Carbon Pricing System

Note

A Chinese-language translation of this article appears after the English-language text.

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements conducted a research workshop on October 14 – 15, 2020 titled “China’s National Carbon-Pricing System: Challenges and Opportunities.” Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy — directed by Professor Zhang Xiliang — co-organized the workshop. The Harvard Global Institute provided major support for the project. The workshop was conducted virtually over Zoom.

Links to the combined agenda and list of participants — as well as most workshop presentations — are at the bottom of this page.

Twenty-seven experts from China, the United States, Europe, Australia, the World Bank, and Asian Development Bank participated, in addition to Robert Stavins and Robert Stowe, Director and Co-Director of the Harvard Project. Chinese participants included researchers from Wuhan University in Hubei Province, Fudan University in Shanghai, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), as well as Beijing-based researchers at Tsinghua University and other institutes and organizations.

On the first day of the workshop. Professor Zhang Xiliang provided a status update on the national system. Participants then made brief presentations on remaining design challenges — specifically, interactions between the national system and power-sector market reforms; and developing an effective system of measurement, reporting, and verification. On the second day, Professor Duan Maosheng of Tsinghua University presented an overview of longer-term challenges to — and opportunities for — China’s national ETS. Participants then addressed policy interactions between the national system and other energy and climate-change policies — and potential reforms and extensions to the trading program. Details are in the agenda, linked at the end of this article.

 This workshop is part of an ongoing collaboration between Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, directed by Professor Zhang Xiliang, and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Directed by Professor Robert Stavins. Prior to this workshop, the two programs co-organized a workshop on subnational climate-change policy in China (July 2019), on the basis of which the Harvard Project released a volume of briefs on this topic.

The organizers are grateful to the Harvard Global Institute for support of the initiative of which this workshop is a part. The Institute supports research that deepens Harvard University’s international engagement and promotes University-wide scholarship to address pressing global challenges such as climate change, migration, and transnational relations.

The Harvard Project released a discussion paper by Valerie J. Karplus in June 2021, “China’s CO₂ Emissions Trading System: History, Status, and Outlook.” Professor Karplus’s paper updates the discussions at the workshop and examines the prospects for the national ETS. The paper may be downloaded here.

In addition to the two research workshops conducted with Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, the Harvard Project has conducted three workshops addressing climate-change policy in — or related to — China:

• June 2015: “Bilateral Cooperation between China and the United States: Facilitating Progress on Climate-Change Policy”; host: National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC).
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    • Read more about this workshop.
    • Read the workshop report here.
• December 2016: “The design, implementation, and operation of China’s national emissions trading system”; host: NCSC. The approximately twenty participants explored technical issues related to the design of China’s emerging national system, including allowance allocation, point of regulation, and price management.
• September 2017: “Cooperation in East Asia to address climate change.” Hosted by Harvard Center Shanghai and also supported by the Harvard Global Institute.
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    • Read more about this workshop here.
    • Read the volume of briefs based on the workshop here.

哈佛项目举办中国国家碳定价体系学术研讨会

2020年10月26日

Robert Stowe

哈佛气候协议项目于2020年10月14日至15日举办了“中国国家碳定价体系:挑战与机遇”学术研讨会。由张希良教授领导的清华大学能源环境经济研究所共同组织了本次研讨会。哈佛全球研究院为该项目提供了重要支持。研讨会实际上是在Zoom上进行的。

完整的议程和参与者列表（包括研讨会上展示的大多数演示文稿）的链接位于此页面底部。

来自中国、美国、欧洲、澳大利亚、世界银行和亚洲开发银行的27名专家，以及哈佛项目主任和联合主任Robert Stavins和Robert Stowe参加了本次会议。中方参与者既包括来自武汉大学（湖北省）、复旦大学（上海市）、中山大学（广东省广州市）的研究人员，也包括来自清华大学和其他组织机构的在京研究人员。

研讨会的第一天，张希良教授介绍了国家碳定价体系的最新情况。与会者随后简要介绍了尚存的设计挑战，特别是国家碳定价体系与电力行业市场化改革之间的相互作用，以及如何设计有效的监测、报告与核查系统。第二天，清华大学段茂盛教授概述了中国国家碳交易体系的长期挑战和机遇。随后，与会者讨论了国家碳定价体系与其他能源和气候变化政策之间的政策互动，以及碳交易机制的潜在改革和扩展。详细信息见文末议程。

哈佛项目正在筹备关于本次研讨会的简短报告，该报告将于2021年1月发布。本次研讨会是清华大学能源环境经济研究所（由张希良教授领导）和哈佛大学气候协议项目（由Robert Stavins教授领导）合作的一部分。在本次研讨会之前，以上两项目于2019年7月共同组织了关于中国地方气候变化政策的研讨会；在此基础上，哈佛项目发布了关于该主题的摘要。

组织者感谢哈佛全球研究院对包括本次研讨会在内的项目的积极支持。该研究所支持深化哈佛大学国际参与度的研究，并促进整个大学范围内的学术研究，以应对气候变化、移民和跨国关系等紧迫的全球挑战。

除与清华大学能源环境经济研究所共同举办的两个学术研讨会外，哈佛项目还举办了三场针对中国气候变化政策（或与中国相关政策）的研讨会：

• 2015年6月：“中美双边合作：促进气候变化政策取得进展”。与国家应对气候变化战略研究和国际合作中心（NCSC）共同主办。
  
  14. 在此处阅读有关此研讨会的更多信息。
  15. 在此处阅读研讨会报告。

• 2016年12月：“中国国家排放权交易系统的设计、实施和运行”。与NCSC共同主办。大约有20位参与者探讨了与中国新兴国家排放权交易体系设计相关的技术问题，包括配额分配、监管点和价格管理。

• 2017年9月：“东亚应对气候变化合作”。由上海哈佛中心主办，并得到哈佛全球研究院的支持。
  
  14. 在此处阅读有关此研讨会的更多信息。
  15. 在此处阅读基于研讨会的摘要。

Following are links to materials on the recent workshop, “China’s National Carbon-Pricing System: Challenges and Opportunities”:

Combined agenda and participant list

Workshop Presentations:

Day 1:

ZHANG Xiliang: "An Update on China's National Carbon Market Development"

ZHANG Jingjie, "Introduction on Power Sector Engagement in China's ETS and Allowance Allocation"

Billy PIZER: "Equity Versus Cost-effectiveness in the Chinese ETS", response to ZHANG Jingjie.

ZHANG Lixin, "China MRV System and Enforcement"

Day 2:

DUAN Maosheng, "Overview of Longer-term Challenges to — and Opportunities for — China's National ETS"

Robert STAVINS, "Policy Interactions within a Carbon-Pricing System"

QI Shaozhou, "Response to Policy Interactions," response to Robert STAVINS.

WU Libo, "Interactions Between ETS And Power Sector," response to Robert STAVINS

Lawrence GOULDER, "Potential Reforms and Extensions to the Trading Program"

ZENG Xuelan, "Prospects on Guangdong ETS," response to Lawrence GOULDER.