Trading platform under the law
"The worldwide carbon sink trading is a fictitious transaction created by law based on the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. Through technical fiction and legal fiction, it introduces the gas environmental capacity resources that can not constitute the object of real right in general into the link of fictitious transaction, thus creating a trading market for intangible objects. " Dr Deng Haifeng from Tsinghua University Environmental Resources and Energy Law Research Center said.
"In a strict legal sense, the participants of clean development mechanism projects such as carbon sinks are the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, so the main body of carbon sinks trading is the country. Developing countries have transferred their certified carbon dioxide emission reductions to developed countries, realizing the docking between national accounts and offsetting the emission reduction obligations undertaken by developed countries in the Kyoto Protocol. " Deng Haifeng said.
China's attempt to carry out clean development mechanism projects began at the beginning of this century. Inner Mongolia Huitengxile Wind Farm and Beijing Anding Landfill Treatment Plant are well-known pilot projects.
the formal implementation of the interim measures for the operation and management of clean development mechanism projects shows that China supports and encourages potential market players to participate in CDM projects. One of the more personalized regulations is that in order to embody the principle of national natural resources sovereignty, our government should charge transfer fees ranging from 2% to 65% according to different types of room gases for the benefits obtained from the reduction of room gas emissions.
Bring inspiration to other fields of environmental protection
"The market trading mechanism of carbon sinks can bring inspiration to other fields of environmental protection." Wang Xiaoli, doctor of law at China Law University, said.
"The most typical one is emission trading. This system has been piloted in China for a long time, but it has not been rolled out on a large scale. The main reason is that its market environment is not perfect, and the relatively mature carbon sink market mechanism can provide ideas for it."
Wang Xiaoli pointed out that if we look further, the carbon sink trading mechanism can also be applied to the protection of international fresh water resources, especially the balance of water resources interests between upstream and downstream countries of national borders and international rivers.
Yu Wenxuan, a postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University Law School, also has a unique opinion: "The carbon sink trading mechanism is a transaction, but its content is' compensation' in the form of transaction to a great extent, which provides a useful reference for establishing and perfecting the ecological compensation mechanism in China."
Deng Haifeng believes that CDM mechanisms such as carbon sink trading prove a point: the power of market mechanism must be introduced into the design of environmental protection system. "Only in this way, the behavior of market players will be more rational, and the functions of the government can also return to the right position. Environmental polluters can take the initiative to protect the environment, and the government can also liberate itself from the current' fire brigade-style' behavior mode of' treating the headache and treating the foot pain' and use indirect means to protect the environment, thus reducing the financial burden of the public and ultimately benefiting the whole. "
Policy orientation and system optimization are the keys
Deng Haifeng believes that the implementation of carbon sequestration afforestation and reforestation projects in China is not ideal, mainly due to the constraints of publicity and technology.
"First of all, there is not enough publicity and promotion for the concept and positive significance of carbon sinks. When it comes to carbon sinks, I'm afraid only professionals know. In fact, with the reform of forest rights in China, a large number of project owners with carbon sink potential have emerged, but they do not know that there is a carbon sink trading mechanism, that is to say, there is still a big gap between this proposed market and people's ideas. "
"Secondly, from the technical point of view, the growth cycle of forests is long, and the economic benefits of forestry production will be limited by factors such as pests and diseases, which will present greater uncertainty. At the same time, under the same economic input conditions, the emission reduction generated by forest adsorption of various indoor gases is much smaller than other types of clean development mechanism projects. This makes the benefits of emission reduction transfer brought by engaging in carbon sink projects generally lower than other types of clean development mechanism projects. " Deng Haifeng analyzed.
considering the return period and rate of return of investment projects, most foreign funds are reluctant to invest in this field. Therefore, in the eyes of ordinary owners, the carbon sink project is just "icing on the cake", not a mandatory project.
In addition, due to the consideration of ecological protection strategy, there are strict restrictions on the subject qualifications of participants in carbon sequestration projects in China at present, and the examination and approval procedures are complicated. Some foreign investors will also be discouraged from carbon sequestration projects because of the high investment cost.
"What we need to do now is to enable market participants to see the potential ecological value that the project may bring through the guidance of policies and laws, and to transform the ecological benefits into realistic economic benefits through system design. Only in this way can these projects with significant ecological benefits not only be accepted by the theory, but also be recognized by the market in practice." Deng Haifeng said.
Therefore, if the carbon sink project wants to develop, it must create a better way of interest appreciation than other projects, so that enterprises can get returns from environmentally friendly behaviors, so as to change from almost "nobody cares" to "hot".
Wang Xiaoli believes that in the future, when China legislates on clean development mechanism and carbon sink trading, it can consider appropriately lowering the entry threshold of participants and the level of government project approval.
"To promote carbon trading, it is necessary to have foresight and a sense of stability, so that enterprises can see that the project has long-term expectations and stable income." Wang Xiaoli said.