解振华：中国碳市场准备就绪

China’s top climate official said on Tuesday that preparations for a nationwide emissions trading scheme were “basically complete” but he stopped short of giving a date for its launch and warned of the dangers of “excessive investment”.

中国最高气候官员周二表示，全国范围碳排放交易机制的准备工作基本完成，但他没有给出具体的交易启动日期，并警告有过度投资的危险。

Beijing announced two years ago that 2017 would be the year in which it rolled out a national carbon trading scheme that experts believe will become the largest of its type, eclipsing that of the EU.

北京方面两年前宣布，将在2017年推出一个全国碳交易机制;专家们相信，这将成为同类市场中规模最大的，超过欧盟的排放交易市场。

But Xie Zhenhua, Beijing’s lead negotiator at the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn, pointed to several pitfalls associated with China’s plans even as he hailed its progress. The scheme is intended to reduce carbon emissions by creating a market cost for carbon emitters.

但在波恩举行的联合国气候变化会议上，中国气候变化事务特别代表解振华在夸耀中国进展的同时，也指出与中国的计划相关的几个潜在问题。该计划旨在通过为碳排放者制造一个市场成本来减少碳排放。

“The work to create a national carbon market has won successes and the whole process is going well,” Mr Xie said in a speech. “Preparations for the carbon market are basically complete and after approval it can go ahead.”

解振华在发表讲话时表示，全国碳市场建设总体进展良好，启动工作一切准备就绪，已进入审批程序，一旦批准，就会启动。

Chinese officials and experts in Bonn, who declined to be identified, said that Beijing may miss its original target of launching the scheme this year but may be ready for the inauguration early next year.

在波恩的中国官员和专家们(他们希望匿名)称，北京方面可能错过今年启动全国碳市场的原定目标，但有望在明年初做好准备。

The expected delay comes after a report this week found that stronger Chinese economic growth would push global greenhouse gas emissions to a record high in 2017 after remaining flat for three years, dashing tentative hopes of a turning point in the world’s efforts to curb climate change. China is predicted to see a 3.5 per cent jump in emissions in 2017, according to the report by the Global Carbon Project.

预计会出现这一延迟之际，本周发表的一份报告发现，更强劲的中国经济增长将使全球温室气体排放量在连续三年持平后在2017年创下历史新高，粉碎人们对于世界遏制气候变化的努力已经达到转折点的初步希望。根据“全球碳计划”(Global Carbon Project)的这份报告，预计中国2017年的排放量将增加3.5%。

Mr Xie stuck a cautious tone in describing some of the parameters of the planned trading scheme. He said the scheme would start by trading the carbon of a selected group of companies from “mature” industries and then build scale from there.

解振华在介绍计划中的交易机制的一些参数时语气谨慎。他表示，该机制在开始时将从成熟行业挑选一组公司，由它们进行碳排放交易，然后逐渐构建规模。

Carbon futures trading will not be available at least at the launch stage of the scheme, he said. “As the activity of the emissions trading scheme continues we intend to avoid excessive investment and development of excessive financial derivatives,” he said.

他说，至少在交易机制的启动阶段不会搞碳期货交易。他表示，在排放交易机制的活动继续开展之际，有关部门打算避免过度投资和发展过多的金融衍生产品。

“The aim of the spot contract trading will be to reduce carbon,” Mr Xie said. “This is our sole aim.”

解振华说，现货合约交易的目的是减少碳排放;这是官方的唯一目标。

Although Mr Xie said that market forces would play a “decisive role” in setting prices for carbon traded in the national scheme, he added the qualifier that “the government may also provide some guidance”.

尽管解振华表示，市场力量将在全国碳交易市场上的定价中起到决定性作用，但他也补充了限定措辞，称政府也可能提供一些指引。

Chinese climate experts said that one of Beijing’s greatest concerns was that the scheme could become a casino for speculators, potentially bidding up the price of carbon to levels than punish industry.

中国气候专家表示，北京方面最担心的问题之一是，该交易机制可能成为投机者的赌场，潜在抬高碳排放价格，使其达到惩罚工业的水平。

China has been gathering experience from seven pilot trading schemes launched at local government level. By the end of September, an accumulated total of 197m tonnes of carbon dioxide has been traded in these seven pilot cities with a total value of Rmb4.5bn.

中国从地方政府层面的七个试点交易计划积累了经验。截至今年9月底，这七个试点省市累计交易二氧化碳当量1.97亿吨，总价值达45亿元人民币。