Basic characteristics of EU carbon emissions trading system

According to the Kyoto Protocol, from 2008 to 20 12, the average annual emission of six greenhouse gases in the EU decreased by 8% compared with 1990. In order to help its member countries fulfill their emission reduction commitments and gain experience in reducing greenhouse gases by using the cap-and-trade mechanism, the European Union formulated an emissions trading system, which was put into trial operation in early 2005 and officially put into operation in early 2008.

(1) The EU emissions trading system is a cap-and-trade system.

Total transaction means that in a certain area, under the premise that the total amount of pollutant emissions does not exceed the allowable emissions or decreases year by year, the internal emission sources adjust their emissions through currency exchange, so as to achieve the purpose of emission reduction and environmental protection. The specific practice of the EU emissions trading system is that EU member states set their own emission caps according to the rules promulgated by the European Commission, determine the industries and enterprises to be included in the emissions trading system, and allocate a certain number of emission permits-European Emission Units (EUA) to these enterprises.

If an enterprise can make its actual emission less than the allocated emission permit, then it can put the remaining emission rights into the emission market and make a profit; On the contrary, it must go to the market to buy emission rights, or it will be severely punished.

The European Commission stipulates that in the trial operation stage, enterprises will be fined 40 euros for each excess emission of 1 ton of carbon dioxide, and in the formal operation stage, the fine will be raised to 0/00 euro per ton, and the excess emission will be deducted from the enterprise emission permit right in the following year. Therefore, the EU emissions trading system has established an incentive mechanism to encourage the private sector to pursue emission reduction at the lowest possible cost. Through this market-oriented mechanism, the EU tries to ensure the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in the most economical way and limit greenhouse gas emissions to the level that society hopes.

(B) The EU emissions trading system adopts a decentralized governance model.

Decentralized governance mode means that the member countries covered by the system have considerable independent decision-making power in the emissions trading system, which is the biggest difference between the EU emissions trading system and other total trading systems. Other total trading systems, such as the sulfur dioxide emission trading system in the United States, are all centralized decision-making governance models. The EU emissions trading system covers 27 sovereign countries, which are quite different in terms of economic development level, industrial structure and institutional system. By adopting the decentralized governance model, the EU can realize the emission reduction plan as a whole, take into account the differences among member States and effectively balance the interests of member States and the EU.

The idea of decentralized governance in the EU trading system is embodied in the setting and distribution of total emissions and the registration of emissions trading. For example, in the determination of emissions, the EU does not determine the total emissions in advance, but each member country first determines its own emissions, and then summarizes the total emissions of the EU.

However, the emissions proposed by each member country must meet the standards of the EU emissions trading directive and need to be approved by the European Commission, especially the emissions set in the official operation stage must meet the emission reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol. In the distribution of emission rights within a country, although the principles observed by all member countries are the same, each country can independently decide the proportion of emission rights among domestic industries according to its own specific conditions. In addition, the trading of emission rights, the supervision of the implementation process and the confirmation of actual emissions are the responsibilities of each member state. Therefore, the EU emissions trading system can be regarded as a consortium of 27 independent trading systems, following the same standards and procedures.

Decentralized management mode highlights the importance of coordination mechanism. Many directives on emissions trading issued by the European Commission (such as Directive2003/87/EC) are the basic legal documents of the EU emissions trading system, which determine the same standards and procedures followed by the member countries in implementing the emissions trading system. The allocation scheme of emissions and emission rights formulated by various countries needs to be approved by the European Commission according to relevant directives before it can take effect. In addition, the European Commission has established a huge central registration system of emission rights, and the distribution of emission rights, the transfer between member States and the confirmation of emissions must be registered in the central registration system.

In short, although the EU emissions trading system is controlled by the European Commission, each member country has great autonomy in setting the total emissions, allocating emission rights, and supervising transactions. This ability to balance centralization and decentralization makes it a model of emissions trading system.

The EU emissions trading system is characterized by openness.

The openness of EU emissions trading system is mainly reflected in the connection with Kyoto Protocol and other emissions trading systems. The EU emissions trading system allows enterprises included in the emissions trading system to use emission reduction credits outside the EU to a certain extent, but only through the clean development mechanism (CDM) or joint implementation (JI) stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol. That is, certified emission reductions or emission reduction units. In the first stage of the implementation of the EU emissions trading system, the use ratio of CER and ERU is determined by each member state. In the second stage, the proportion of CER and ERU used should not exceed 6% of the total EU emissions. If it exceeds 6%, the European Commission will automatically review the plan of the member state.

In addition, through bilateral agreements, the EU emissions trading system can also be compatible with other countries' emissions trading systems. For example, Norway's total carbon dioxide trading system and the EU's emissions trading system have been successfully docked on June 5438+ 10/2008.

The implementation of the EU emissions trading system is gradual.

In order to gain experience and ensure the controllability of the implementation process, the implementation of the EU emissions trading system is gradually advanced. The first stage is the experimental stage, from 1 in October 2005 to 1 in February 2007. The main purpose of this stage is not to achieve a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but to accumulate operating experience of total trading and lay the foundation for the formal implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in the subsequent stage. In the choice of greenhouse gas trading, the first stage only involves the trading of carbon dioxide emission rights that have the greatest impact on climate change, not all six greenhouse gases proposed by the Kyoto Protocol. In selecting the industries to be covered, the EU requires that the first stage only include the energy industry, enterprises with internal combustion engine power above 20MW, oil refining industry, steel industry, cement industry, glass industry, ceramics and paper industry, and sets the threshold for enterprises to be included in the system. In this way, the EU emissions trading system covers about 1 150O enterprises, and its carbon dioxide emissions account for 50% of the EU. Other greenhouse gases and industries will gradually join after the second stage.

The second stage is from 2008 1 October 1 day to February 20081day, and the time span is consistent with the first commitment time of the Kyoto Protocol.

With the help of the designed emissions trading system, the EU formally fulfilled its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. The third stage is from 20 13 to 2020. During this period, the total emission will decrease at the rate of 1.74% per year, so as to ensure that the greenhouse gas emission ratio in 2020 will decrease by at least 20%/.990.