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Background Paper
Emissions Trading in China
Opportunities and Constraints
October 2001
by Christine L. Dobridge, Tam Pui Ying and So Hoi Ying
Addiess: Room 601, Hoseinee House, 69 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2893 0213
Fax: 3015 9713
Website: http://www.civic-exchange.org
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limate change and increasing levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are worldwide concerns. China is beginning to take a strong interest in the matter and it is encouraging that it signed the Kyoto Protocol agreement in Bonn in July 2001.

Worldwide efforts will be needed to reduce GHGs and China will have an important role
to play.

Measures to reduce emissions may take one of two forms: first, command and control regulations, which are administratively enforced, and second, market-based regulations. The wide range of control options includes environmental clean up, the substitution of less environmentally harmful inputs in production and the prohibition of harmful products and activities. Market based-solutions, on the other hand, treat pollution as a marketable com- modity subject to the laws of supply and demand and include pollution taxes and emissions trading.

This paper provides the general background to the basics of emissions trading, a market- based regulatory system that allows companies to trade air pollution permits as one way of reducing pollution. The paper looks at emissions trading initiatives carried out around the world and examines whether an emissions trading scheme could be developed for China that would reduce the impact of pollution on human health and climate change in an economically viable way. It also outlines the design elements that must be considered when developing an emissions trading program.

Background Paper
Emissions Trading in China
Opportunities and Constraints
October 2001
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Acknowledgements
This paper was prepared by Christine L. Dobridge, Tam Pui Ying and So Hoi Ying
Civic Exchange acknowledges the help of the following
individuals and organizations in preparing this report:
Brian Anderson
Elvis Au, HK Environmental Protection Department
Angel Cheung
Scott Christiansen, Adventist Development Relief Agency China (ADRA)
Sean Clark, Trexler and Associates, Inc.
Daniel J. Dudek, Environmental Defense Fund
Robert Falls
Keith Gilges, US Asian Environmental Partnership
Stephen Goldman, ExxonMobil Energy Limited
Christine Huang, US Consulate, Guangzhou
Elizabeth Hutton
Michael Liang
Dick Ma
Ma Xioling, South China Environmental Sciences Institute
C\u00e9dric Philibert, International Energy Agency
Lori J. Ryerkerk, ExxonMobil Energy Limited
Suzanne Skinner
Dilly Tam
C W Tse, Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department
Adventist Development Relief Agency China (ADRA)
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Protection Administration, Guangzhou
Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government
ExxonMobil Energy Limited
Trexler and Associates, Inc.
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