Chinese province plans high ETS fines

摘要

The government of Guangdong province in south China will impose steep penalties on companies that fail to cover their emissions under a pilot scheme that is due to start up early next year. Draft rules tabled in July stipulate that non-compliant companies will pay a penalty three times the average annual market price for every tonne of CO2 emitted above a set limit that is not covered by a permit. The fine is comparable to a penalty that will be applied in Shenzhen on Guangdong’s central coast which on 18 June became the first city in the country to launch a pilot emissions trading scheme (ETS). Four other cities — Beijing and Tianjin in the north, Shanghai in the east and Chongqing in central China — along with central Hubei province will unveil similar programmes by early 2014, in preparation for a national scheme that is expected to launch after 2015.