China to expand national carbon emission trading market

China plans to expand its national carbon market to include more industries under quota management, covering about 80 percent of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions, officials said.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and 17 other government departments have jointly issued a plan on addressing climate change for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), urging efforts to fully leverage the role of the national carbon market in supporting the control of both the total volume and intensity of carbon emissions, and to extend the market to more industries and greenhouse gases.

In 2025, a total of 3,378 key emitters were included in the carbon emission trading market's quota management, covering more than 65 percent of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions, according to data from the ministry.

Over the past five years since the market was established, cumulative trading volume of carbon emission quotas has exceeded 926 million tons, with the total turnover amounting to 62.475 billion yuan (about 9.23 billion U.S. dollars).

In the first half of 2026, the trading volume reached 52.96 million tons, up about 37 percent year on year.

According to the plan, the new round of expansion will bring chemicals, petrochemicals, civil aviation, papermaking, and other industries to market.

"Industries that have already peaked their carbon emissions, or those with saturated production capacity, should be the first to be subject to the total carbon emission control. In the meantime, a paid allocation of quotas should be implemented, gradually tightening the emission baseline for free quota allocations," said Zhang Xin, chief economist of the National Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation Center.

Zhang also pointed to market prices, saying that the involvement of more emitters can help keep prices at a proper level.

"We need to shift from market activities gradually focused on compliance to those focused on carbon asset management, and develop carbon finance and other derivatives in an orderly manner. This will allow the carbon emission market to find more effective prices, providing economic and technological drivers for the transformation toward green and low-carbon development," Zhang said.

China to expand national carbon emission trading market

The Youyiguan Port, or Friendship Pass, in Pingxiang City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region neighboring Vietnam registered sharp growth in the value of imports and exports in the first half of this year.

The port, China's main gateway to Vietnam, recorded a total import and export cargo value of 364.12 billion yuan (about 53.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, up 26 percent year on year.

The trade with ASEAN member states dominated the port's performance, with the value of imports from and exports to ASEAN countries reaching 361.4 billion yuan in the January-June period, a 26.2 percent increase year on year, accounting for 99.3 percent of the port's total cross-border volume.

Machinery and electronic products remained the main categories of imports and exports through the port.

To facilitate economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN countries, the local customs authorities have introduced a series of measures to simplify the customs declaration and clearance procedures, raising the overall inspection efficiency by 40 percent.

South China's Friendship Pass registers sharp growth in value of imports, exports in January-June